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ROLLO'S  TRAVELS. 


THE  ROLLO  SERIES 


IS    COMPOSED    OF    FOURTEEN    VOLUMES,   VIZ. 


Rollo  Learning  to  Talk. 
Rollo  Learning  to  Read. 
Rollo  at  Work. 
Rollo  at  Play. 
Rollo  at  School. 
Rollo's  Vacation. 
Rollo's  Experiments, 


Rollo's  Museum. 
Rollo's  Travels. 
Rollo's  Correspondence 
Rollo's  Philosophy— Water 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Air. 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Fire. 
Rollo's  Philosophy — Sky. 


A    NEW    EDITION,    REVISED    BY    THE    AUTHOR* 


BOSTON: 

PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON,  AND  COMPANY. 

NEW  YORK  :  JAMES   C.  DERBY. 


Entered  according  to  the   Act  of  Congress,  in   the  year  1850,  by 

HOGAN    ik    'ikoMPSON, 

La   the  Clerk's   Office  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania* 


NOTICE 


The  parent,  who  may  in  a  leisure 
moment  take  up  this  volume,  will  rind, 
that  in  this,  as  in  its  predecessors,  there 
are  many  pages  in  which  there  is  no 
direct  effort  made  to  convey  moral  in- 
struction. It  does  not  follow  from  this, 
however,  that  the  perusal  of  the  pages 
may  not  exert  a  considerable  influence, 
of  a  salutary  character,  upon  the  mind 
of  the  child.  A  boy  is  injured  by  bad 
company,  and  benefited  by  good,  even 
though  the  associate  may  not  attempt 
to  teach  directly  what  is  right  or 
wrong ;  and  Rollo  is  presented  to  his 
youthful  friends  as  a  companion,  rather 
than  a  teacher.  They  are  to  be  bene- 
fited, not  so  much  by  listening  to  in- 
structions, as  by  catching  the  spirit  of 
docility  and  gentleness  which  exhibits 
itself  in  his  conduct  and  character. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

.      7 


GENERAL.  ORDERS 

THE  RAIN.. • 

THE   EVENING  RIDE 

JONAS'S  COMPASS <  

GETTING   ADRIFT 

THE    ENGINE 

A  NIGHT   AT  SEA 

FOG 

THE   STORY   OF  MOSES   AND   HIS  SHIP 

AN  EXPEDITION 

THE   MORNING  SONG 

TESTIMONY 

THE  WAGON  RIDE 

THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED •  174 

THE  ENIJ   OF  THE  JOURNEY —     183 


123 
137 
148 
164 


ROLLO'S  TRAVELS. 


GENERAL    ORDERS. 

Rollo's  father  was  going  to  take  a  jour- 
ney, and  he  was  considering  whether  it 
would  not  be  a  good  plan  to  take  Rollo 
with  him. 

"  You  will  find  such  a  boy  a  great  deal 
of  trouble,"  said  his  mother. 

"  True,"  replied  his  father ;  "I  expect 
that." 

"  And  the  expense  will  be  considerable,  } 
she  added. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "  there  will  be 
some  additional  expense.  They  generally 
charge  half  price  for  a  boy." 

u  But  I  should  like  very  much  to  have 
him  go,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  "  if  you  think 
it  is  best." 

Mr.  Holiday  said  nothing  more  for  some 


8  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

minutes.  He  was  taking  some  clothes  out 
of  his  drawers  and  putting  them  upon  a 
table.  His  large  black  travelling  trunk  was 
by  the  side  of  the  table,  and  Rollo's  mother 
was  putting  the  things  carefully  into  it. 

After  a  few  minutes  more,  Mr.  Holiday 
said, 

"  I  believe  I  will  take  him.  He  will  bring 
some  additional  care  upon  me ;  but  then  he 
is  generally  considerate  and  obedient,  and 
I  don't  think  he  will  make  me  any  unneces- 
sary trouble.  Then  he  will  be  company  for 
me,  and  perhaps,  sometimes,  may  be  even 
of  a  little  service. " 

"Yes,"  said  his  mother,  "I  think  he 
will." 

"  Now,  if  he  was  a  disobedient  and  trou- 
blesome boy,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "or  if  I 
thought  he  would  be  ill-humored  or  fretful 
when  things  go  wrong,  I  should  not  think 
of  taking  him." 

"  I  think  myself  he  will  be  good-humored 
and  docile,"  said  Mrs.  Holiday. 

"  And,  then,  the  journey  will  be  of  some 
advantage  to  him,"  said  his  father.  "  He  will 
see  a  great  many  new  things ;  and,  what  is 
better  still    he  will  be  placed  in  some  new 


GENERAL    ORDERS.  VJ 

situations ;  and  so  he  may  learn  lessons  of 
wise  conduct,  and  presence  of  mind,  and 
circumspection.  I  think,  on  the  whole,  I 
will  take  him." 

"  Well,"  said  Hollo's  mother,  "  I  will  get 
his  clothes,  and  put  them  up  in  his  little 
black  trunk." 

They  said  nothing  to  Rollo  himself,  about 
this  plan,  until  the  evening.  His  mother 
went  on,  however,  with  her  preparations, 
and  got  his  trunk  all  packed  and  ready. 
But  Rollo  himself  heard  nothing  about  the 
plan  until  they  sat  down  to  tea. 

"  What  time  to-morrow  are  you  going, 
father  ? "  said  Rollo,  as  he  was  pouring  out 
some  milk  from  a  pitcher,  into  his  little  mug. 

"  About  four  o'clock,"  said  his  father. 

"If it  does  not  rain,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Whether  it  rains  or  not,"  said  his  father. 
"  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  rain.  And  I 
have  concluded  to  take  company  with  me." 

"  Who  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  You,"  replied  his  father. 

"  Me  !  "  said  Rollo,  putting  down  his  mug, 
and  looking  at  his  father  with  astonishment 
and  pleasure. 

"  Yes,  you.     Should  you  like  to  go  ? " 


10  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

"Certainly,"  said  Rollo.  "I  never  was 
in  a  steamboat  in  my  life." 

"Nor  in  a  great  hotel." 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"I  think  that  you  will  make,  on  the 
whole,  a  pretty  good  traveller,  and  I  think 
you  may  be  of  some  service  to  me,  besides 
keeping  me  company." 

Rollo 's  father  had  another  reason  for 
taking  Rollo,  more  important  than  either  of 
these ;  and  that  was  to  gratify  his  little  son 
with  the  pleasures  of  the  journey,  and  to  af- 
ford him  opportunities  of  improvement.  But 
he  did  not  say  much  about  this,  nor  about 
the  additional  expense,  because  he  did  not 
wish  Rollo  to  feel  that  he  was  a  burden  to 
him.  Rollo  was  very  much  pleased  with 
the  plan,  and  determined  to  be  as  useful,  and 
as  good  company,  as  he  could  be,  all  the 
way. 

"  I'll  go  and  pack  my  trunk  immediately 
after  supper,"  said  Rollo. 

"It  is  packed  already,"  replied  his  mother. 

"Who  packed  it?" 

"  I,"  added  his  mother.  "  That  is,  I  have 
put  in  all  the  clothes  you  will  want.  If  you 
have  any  things  that  you  want  to  take  your- 


GENERAL   ORDERS.  11 

self,  for  any  of  your  own  purposes,  you 
can  get  them  ready  this  evening,  and  I  will 
put  them  up  in  the  morning." 

After  tea,  Rollo's  father  took  his  seat  by 
the  window,  and  called  Rollo  to  him,  to  give 
him,  as  he  said,  his  general  orders. 

"  The  first  rule  I  wish  to  give  you,  for 
your  conduct  on  your  travels,  Rollo,"  said 
his  father,  "is,  alio  ays  keep  a  quiet  mind." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Travellers  break  this  rule  by  fretting 
and  worrying  themselves.  There  are  three 
things,  in  respect  to  which  travellers  make 
themselves  restless  and  uneasy  —  time,  dan- 
ger, and  hardships." 

"  What  is  worrying  against  time  ?  "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  It  is  an  uneasy,  restless  eagerness  to  get 
along  faster  than  we  are  going,"  replied  his 
father.  "  A  traveller  in  this  state  of  mind  is 
all  the  time  watching  the  mile-stones,  or  ask- 
ing how  far  he  has  come,  and  wishing  to 
go  faster.  When  he  has  decided  upon  mak- 
ing a  journey,  he  is  in  a  hurry  to  have  the  time 
come  for  him  to  set  off;  and,  in  every  stage 
of  his  journey,  he  is  always  looking  forward, 
and  eagerly  wishing   to   be   farther   along. 


12  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

Now,  you  must  try  to  keep  a  quiet  mind 
about  time  and  distance.  Do  not  look  for- 
ward much.  Give  yourself  up  to  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  present  hour,  and  let  the  horses 
go  on  in  their  own  way." 

«  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "I  will." 
l(  Then  travellers  worry  themselves  about 
danger,"  continued  his  father.  "  You  must 
avoid  that.  Do  not  let  your  imagination  run 
upon  dangers  and  disasters.  Boys  are  not  so 
much  exposed  to  this  as  older  persons.  Some 
whom  I  have  known  are  always  apprehend- 
ing some  accident  or  trouble ;  picturing  to 
themselves,  as  they  ride  along,  upsettings  in 
coaches,  or  explosions  in  steamboats,  or  run- 
ning off  the  track  in  the  cars.  They  are 
always  looking  out  at  the  window  in  search 
of  hills  or  steep  banks,  or  listening  to  the 
clanking  of  the  engine,  to  hear  if  something 
is  not  going  wrong.  Now,  you  must  banish 
all  these  things  from  your  mind  as  complete- 
ly as  possible.  At  all  events,  never  talk 
about  them.  You  cannot  at  first  control 
your  imagination  entirely  ;  but  if  you  steadily 
exert  yourself  to  keep  your  mind  on  other 
objects,  you  will  soon  learn  to  do  so." 

"  /  can't  help  thinking  of  those  things, 


GENERAL    ORDERS.  13 

sometimes,"  said  Rollo's  mother,  who  was 
listening  to  the  conversation,  while  she  was 
putting  up  the  cups  and  saucers  at  the  table. 

"Perhaps  not,"  said  his  father;  "such 
thoughts  are  partly  voluntary  and  partly  in- 
voluntary. It  is  only  so  far  as  they  are  vol- 
untary, that  is,  so  far  as  we  willingly  allow 
our  minds  to  dwell  upon  these  dangers,  that 
we  are  in  fault.  And  if  we  put  a  stop  to  all 
this  voluntary  uneasiness  and  dread,  the  rest 
will  soon  cease  of  itself,  and  we  shall  travel 
with  a  quiet  mind.  It  is  a  great  deal  better 
to  occupy  our  thoughts  with  other  things, 
and  leave  the  horses  to  the  driver,  the  boiler 
to  the  engineers  and  firemen,  and  the  winds 
and  waves  to  God." 

"I  think  that  is  the  best  way,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  Then  there  is  the  worrying  of  ourselves 
against  inconveniences  and  hardships.  That 
you  will  be  tempted  to  do.  There  is  no 
avoiding  inconveniences  and  hardships  in 
travelling,  and  the  best  way  is  to  bear  them 
good-naturedly  and  patiently.  Never  com- 
plain unless  you  expect  to  do  some  good  by 
complaining.  So  you  understand  now  what 
I  mean  by  keeping  a  quiet  mind." 
% 


14  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

"Yes,  father,"  said  Rollo  j  "and  now  for 
the  next  rule." 

But  Rollo 's  father,  instead  of  giving  him 
another  rule,  took  out  his  watch,  and  said 
that  he  could  not  talk  any  more  with  him 
then,  for  he  had  some  letters  to  write.  So 
he  said  that  he  would  give  him  the  rest  of 
his  instructions  some  time  on  the  way. 

When  his  father  had  gone,  Rollo  asked 
his  mother  what  she  would  recommend  to 
him  to  take  in  addition  to  his  clothes. 

"Let  me  think,"  said  she;  —  "a  pen- 
cil ;  you  will  want  a  pencil,  perhaps.  You 
may  see  something  that  you  will  want  to 
draw." 

"  Yes,  mother,  I  will  take  my  pencil." 

"  And  your  little  pocket  inkstand,  and  a 
steel  pen ;  and  I  think  it  would  be  well  to 
have  a  little  book  to  write  a  journal  in,  and 
one  or  two  sheets  of  paper,  folded  up  in  the 
form  of  a  letter,  to  carry  in  your  pocket ;  so 
as  to  be  convenient  when  you  want  to  write 
a  letter  in  some  situation  where  you  cannot 
get  access  to  your  trunk." 

"  And  some  wafers  in  a  little  box,"  said 
Rollo. 

"Yes,"  replied  his  mother;  —  "you  can 


GENERAL    ORDERS. 


15 


go  and  get  those  ready,  and  then,  perhaps, 
you  will  think  of  some  other  things." 

Rollo  accordingly  went  out  to  collect  his 
writing  and  drawing  materials :  when  they 
were  ready,  he  took  his  knife,  and  finding 
that  it  was  dull,  he  went  out  to  get  Jonas  to 
sharpen  it  for  him.  Jonas  was  very  much 
pleased  to  hear  of  Rollo's  intended  journey, 
and  he  said  that  he  would  put  his  knife  in 
first  rate  order  for  him.  He  also  told  him  he 
would  lend  him  his  little  pocket  compass,  so 
that  he  could  always  tell  which  way  was 
north,  in  all  his  travels. 

This  pocket  compass  of  Jonas' s  was  origi- 
nally a  part  of  a  watch-key.  Somebody  gave 
it  to  Jonas  after  the  tube  had  got  worn  out, 
so  that  it  was  spoiled  for  a  watch-key.  Jonas 
had  contrived  to  grind  off  the  tube,  and  also 
the  little  ring  upon  the  opposite  side,  which 
was  made  to  fasten  the  key  to  the  chain, 
and  so  it  was  smooth  and  round  like  a  little 
pocket  compass.  It  had  lost  its  resemblance 
to  a  watch-key,  altogether. 

Rollo  was  very*§lad  to  have  this  compass, 
Jonas  ground  the  knife  while  Rollo  was  busy 
in  the  house  looking  up  his  other  things. 
When  the  knife  was  ready,  Jonas  went  in 


MM 

16  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

pursuit  of  Rollo  to  give  it  to  him.  He  found 
him  in  the  back  chamber  seated  on  the  floor, 
with  a  small  kite  by  his  side,  and  coils  of 
kite  tail  all  around  him.  He  was  trying  to 
untangle  the  tail,  as  he  called  it. 

"O!  I  would  not  work  upon  my  kite 
now,"  said  Jonas,  "if  I  were  you.  I  would 
be  getting  ready." 

" I  am  getting  ready,"  said  Rollo.  "I  am 
going  to  carry  my  kite." 

"  O,  no,"  said  Jonas,  "you  can't  carry 
your  kite." 

"  Yes  I  can,"  said  Rollo ;  "it  is  very 
light." 

"  Yes,  and  it's  very  bulky." 

"'Bulky?"  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  Jonas  ;  "that  is,  it  takes  up  a 
great  deal  of  room." 

"  O,  no,"  said  Rollo  ;  "it  is  very  flat  and 
thin." 

"  Besides,  it  is  too  long  to  go  into  the 
trunk,"  persisted  Jonas. 

"  It  is  too  long  for  my  trunk,"  said  Rollo, 
"but  then  it  will  go  into  father's." 

"  I  don't  believe  it  will,"  said  Jonas. 

"  I  mean  to  go  and  measure,"  said  Rollo. 

So  he  left  his  kite  upon  the  floor,  after 


GENERAL    ORDERS.  17 

taking  the  length  of  it,  with  a  twine,  and 
went  and  measured  the  length  of  his  father's 
trunk.  It  was  a  small  kite,  and  he  found  to 
his  great  joy  that  it  would  go  in. 

His  mother  asked  him  what  he  was  doing  ; 
and  so  he  told  her  of  his  plan  of  carrying 
his  kite.  She  told  him  that  he  could  not 
do  that. 

"  Why  not?"  said  Rollo. 
"  O,  because,"   replied  his  mother,  "  you 
will  not  have  any  good  time  to  raise  it  while 
you  are  gone;  and  it  is  not  worth  while." 

"  O  yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo  j  "  I  can  raise 
it  with  Horatio." 

Horatio  was  a  boy  whom  he  expected  to 
visit  in  the  course  of  his  journey. 

"  But  then  it  will  be  very  likely  to  get 
broken  or  lost.  /  would  not  take  it,  if  I 
were  you." 

Rollo's  mother  made  a  mistake.  She  was 
assigning  false  reasons.  The  real  reason 
why  Rollo  ought  not  to  take  his  kite  was, 
that  it  would  be  an  inconvenient  and  trouble- 
some thing  to  carry  ;  but  instead  of  assigning 
this  reason,  or,  what  would  have  been  better 
still,  giving  no  reason  at  all,  but  simply  tell- 
ing him  that  he  could  not  be  allowed  to 
a*  2* 


18  GENERAL,    ORDERS. 

carry  it,  she  attempted  to  persuade  him  to 
give  it  up,  by  urging  arguments  which  were 
really  not  of  much  weight;  and  so  Rollo 
was  not  satisfied  with  them,  but  was  only 
the  more  eager  to  have  the  kite  go. 

"  Well,"  said  his  mother  at  length,  "  go 
and  ask  your  father." 

So  Rollo  went  down  stairs  into  the  back 
parlor,  and  found  his  father  writing  there,  at 
a  table.  He  went  and  stood  up  by  the  side 
of  the  table,,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
speak  to  him. 

When  his  father  had  finished  the  sentence 
that  he  was  writing,  he  looked  up  and  said, 

"•Well,  Rollo." 

"  I  wanted  to  ask  you,  sir,  if  I  might  take 
my  kite  with  me." 

His  father  hesitated. 

"  It  will  just  go  into  your  trunk ;  I  have 
measured  it." 

His  father  reflected  a  moment,  and  then, 
shaking  his  head,  slowly  said, 

"  No,  Rollo,  I  think  it  will  not  be  best." 

"Why  not,  father?  It  is  very  light ;  and 
then  it  is  so  thin  that  it  will  not  take  up 
much  room." 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  the  reason  now/'  said 


GENERAL    ORDERS.  19 

his  father.  "I  will  explain  it  all  to  you  in 
the  steamboat." 

He  looked  pleasantly  and  smiled,  while  he 
said  this,  but  Rollo  looked  very  thoughful 
and  sad. 

"  I  wish  I  might  take  it,"  said  he,  at  the 
same  time  beginning  slowly  to  draw  back. 

"  It  is  not  best,"  said  his  father.  "  I 
think  I  can  convince  you  that  it  is  not,  when 
we  get  on  board  the  boat,  though"  I  do  not 
suppose  I  could  do  it  now." 

"  Why  not  now,  as  well  as  then  ?  "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  Because  now  your  mind  is  under  a  bias. 
You  are  very  desirous  of  taking  the  kite, 
and  so  you  are  not  in  a  proper  state  of  mind 
to  give  the  arguments  a  fair  consideration  ; 
so  that,  if  I  was  at  leisure,  I  should  not  think 
that  it  would  do  any  good  to  tell  you  the 
reasons  now." 

Rollo  slowly  moved  towards  the  door,  but 
he  looked  very  disconsolate  and  sad. 

"  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  as  Rollo  was 
opening  the  door. 

"What,  sir?"  said  Rollo. 

"  Is  this  a  great  disappointment  to  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  ':  pretty  great." 


20  GENERAL    ORDERS. 

"  And  it  is  going  to  make  you  a  little  ill- 
humored  and  sullen,  I  suppose." 

Rollo  held  down  his  head,  but  did  not 
answer. 

"  I  wish  you  to  go  up  stairs."  continued 
his  father,  "and  put  your  kite  away,  and 
then  stay  in  your  room  out  of  sight,  until  you 
are  perfectly  good-humored  and  pleasant 
again.  And  if  you  think  you  shall  not  be 
so  for  some  time,  you  may  go  to  bed.  I 
think  you  will  get  over  it  before  morning." 

So  Rollo  shut  the  door,  and  walked  slowly 
away.  He,  however,  began  soon  to  reflect 
how  foolish  and  how  ungrateful  he  was, 
when  his  father  had  made  arrangements  for 
taking  him  on  a  long  and  pleasant  journey, 
to  make  himself  miserable,  and  give  his  fa- 
ther and  mother  trouble  because  it  was  not 
convenient  to  carry  his  kite. 

Accordingly  his  countenance  brightened 
up,  and  he  went  back  to  his  father's  room. 
He  opened  the  door  a  little,  and  peeped  in, 
with  a  smiling  face,  and  waited  for  his  father 
to  look  up  from  his  writing.  As  soon  as  his 
father  raised  his  eyes,  he  said, 

"  Father,  on  the  whole,  I  don't  care  much 
about  my  kite." 


GENERAL    ORDERS.  21 

"  Very  well,"  said  his  father,  "  I  am  glad 
to  hear  it ;  and  I  am  very  glad  you  came 
back  to  tell  me." 

His  father  considered  his  coming  back,  in 
that  way,  with  a  smiling  face,  as  a  tacit  con- 
fession that  he  had  done  wrong,  and  a  prom- 
ise to  do  so  no  more. 


22 


THE    RAIN. 

The  sun  rose  pleasantly  the  next  morning, 
but  it  became  cloudy  before  noon.  Rollo 
watched  the  clouds  with  great  eagerness. 
Although  his  father  had  said  that  the  weather 
would  make  no  difference  in  respect  to  their 
going,  yet  Rollo  had  known  so  many  short 
rides  and  expeditions  to  be  broken  up  by  the 
weather,  that  he  had  a  vague  idea  that  the 
rain  would  keep  them  at  home.  After  din- 
ner he  asked  his  father  to  come  to  the  door, 
and  see  if  he  thought  it  was  going  to  ram. 
His  father  accordingly  went. 

They  stood  upon  the  platform,  and  looked 
all  around. 

"  I  think  it  will  rain,"  said  he.  "  The  wind 
is  east,  and  clouds  are  gathering  all  over  the 
sky." 

"  And  shall  you  certainly  go  if  it  rains  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  I  presume  we 
shall." 

"  If  it  rains  very  fast  indeed  ?  "  asked 
Rollo. 


THE    RAIN.  23 

"  Unless  it  rains  so  fast  as  to  prevent  the 
stage  going.    We  shall  go  if  the  stage  does." 

Rollo  was  glad  to  hear  this;  but  yet  he 
wished  himself  safely  in  the  coach.  His  un- 
easiness increased,  when,  about  half  an  hour 
afterwards,  it  actually  began  to  rain.  The 
wind  shifted  a  little  to  the  southward,  and 
large  patches  of  dark,  watery  clouds  began  to 
scud  over  the  sky  towards  the  north-west. 
Now  and  then  bright  openings  appeared  be- 
tween these  patches,  and  Rollo  was  very  sure 
that  it  was  going  to  clear  off.  But  in  a  few 
minutes  more,  another  vast  mass  of  dense 
cloud  would  advance  majestically  from  the 
southward,  and  pour  down  torrents  of  rain. 

Four  o'clock  came,  but  the  stage  did  not 
appear.  The  trunks  were  all  packed,  and 
Rollo's  father  sat  quietly  in  his  arm-chair, 
reading  a  newspaper.  Rollo,  however,  was 
uneasy  and  restless.  He  went  and  looked  at 
the  clock,  and  then  he  went  and  looked  at 
the  clouds. 

"  Mother,"  said  he,  "  why  does  not  the 
stage  come  ? " 

"  Why,  it  is  not  quite  time  yet,"  said  she ; 
"  is  it  ?  " 

"  Yes,  mother  ;  it  is  past  four  o'clock." 


24  THE    RAIN. 

"  Is  it  ? "  said  she.  "  I  did  not  suppose  it 
was  so  late."  So  she  looked  up  at  the  clock 
and  smiled. 

"  Why,  it  is  only  about  a  minute  past  four," 
said  she.  "  It  seems  to  me  you  are  a  little 
impatient,  Rollo.  You  are  forgetting  your 
father's  instruction  about  being  impatient 
and  restless." 

"  Why,  mother,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  have  not 
begun  our  journey  yet.  If  we  were  only 
fairly  in  the  stage,  I  should  be  quiet  and  con- 
tented ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  the  stage  will 
not  come." 

"  Why  shouldn't  it  come  ?  "  said  she. 

"Perhaps  something  has  happened  to  it/' 
said  Rollo. 

"  I  think  it  probable  that  the  rain  has  made 
the  roads  muddy  j  and  that  may  delay  it  a  lit- 
tle." 

"How  much  do  you  think  it  will  delay 
it  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Perhaps  half  an  hour.  But  you  had  bet- 
ter not  stand  here  watching  and  waiting  for 
it.  Go  and  find  Nathan  and  play  horses  with 
him  ;  or  amuse  yourself  in  any  way,  and  for- 
get all  about  your  journey.  Then  the  coach 
will  come  before  you  think  of  it." 


THE    RAIN.  25 

Rollo  concluded  to  take  his  mother's  ad- 
vice, and  he  went  off  in  pursuit  of  Nathan, 
He  wandered  through  one  or  two  rooms ;  and 
at  length  he  found  his  sister  Mary  seated  at 
her  little  writing-desk  in  a  back  parlor,  finish- 
ing a  letter.  Her  sealing-wax,  and  little  glass 
seals  in  a  box,  and  a  taper,  with  its  bronze 
stand,  were  upon  the  table,  by  her  side. 

"  Sister,"  said  Rollo,  "  may  I  look  at  your 
seals  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Mary. 

Mary  knew,  from  Rollo's  general  habits 
and  character,  that  he  would  be  careful  to 
put  them  back  properly  in  their  places,  in 
the  box. 

Rollo  began  to  examine  the  seals,  and 
amused  himself  for  a  few  minutes  looking  at 
the  devices,  and  endeavoring  to  read  the  re- 
versed letters.  While  he  stood  there,  he 
heard  a  noise  in  the  entry ;  and  presently  Na- 
than came  in  riding  the  yardstick  for  a  horse. 
He  had  a  whip,  with  a  long  lash,  to  whip  his 
horse  with.  Rollo  was  too  busy  to  take 
much  notice  of  him ;  but  he  drove  up  to 
Mary,  who  had  just  finished  her  letter,  and, 
putting  out  his  hand  as  if  to  shake  hands 
with  her,  he  said, 
b  3 


26  THE    RAIN. 

"  How  do  you,  sir  ?  How  do  you  do,  sir  ? 
Are  you  pretty  well,  sir  ? " 

Mary  had  just  finished  her  letter  ;  and  she 
looked  up  to  Nathan,  smiling,  and  said, 

"  Pretty  well,  I  thank  you,  sir  ;  where  are 
you  travelling,  sir  ?  " 

Nathan  answered  her,  and  then  stood  qui- 
etly by  to  see  Mary  fold  and  address  her  let- 
ter. Then  Mary  put  his  yardstick  away  in 
the  corner,  and  took  him  up  in  her  lap,  and 
began  to  talk  with  him. 

"  Where  have  you  been  playing,  Na- 
than ? "  said  she. 

"  I  have  been  in  the  kitchen,  with  Doro- 
thy." 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  there  ?  " 

"  Playing,"  said  Nathan. 

"  And  have  you  been  a  good  boy  ?  " 

"  Why,  —  yes,  — "  said  Nathan,  hesita- 
ting ;  "I  have  been  a  pretty  good  boy  j  but 
I  haven't  been  a  very  good  boy." 

"  Have  you  been  doing  any  thing  wrong  ?  " 
asked  Mary,  seriously. 

"  Why,  — yes,"  said  Nathan,  whipping  his 
own  knees  gently  with  his  whip  j  "a  little 
wrong,  — only  a  little  wrong." 


THE    RAIN.  27 

*  What  — what  was  it  that  you  did  ?  " 

"Why  —  eh,  —  why  —  eh,"  said  Nathan, 
"Dorothy  says  she  is  going  to  tell  my 
mother." 

"  Is  she  ?  "  said  Mary  ;  "  but  I  think  you 
had  better  tell  yourself.  When  people  do 
wrong,  if  they  are  sorry  for  it,  they  are  will- 
ing to  confess  it." 

"  Well,  /  am  sorry,"  said  Nathan. 

"  Then  tell  me  what  it  was  that  you  did 
that  was  wrong." 

"  Why  —  eh,  —  why  —  eh,"  said  Nathan, 
looking  around,  —  "  well,  if  you  will  tell  me 
what  is  on  that  little  seal." 

"  No,"  said  Mary,  "  I  can't  tell  you  any 
thing  about  the  little  seal,  until  you  have 
confessed  to  me  what  you  have  done  that  is 
wrong." 

"Well,"  said  Nathan,  "eh  —  e — h,  let 
me  think." 

"  No,"  said  Mary,  "  you  know  now  very 
well ;  it  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  think. 
You  can  tell  me  now,  if  you  wish  to  tell  me. 
You  would  tell  me  if  you  were  sorry." 

"  I  am  sorry,"  said  Nathan  ;  "  I  am,  truly." 

"I  guess  not,"  said  Mary. 

"  I  am,"  said  Nathan. 


28  THE    RAIN. 

"  If  you  were  sorry,  you  would  be  willing 
to  confess  what  you  had  done." 

"  Well,  I  am  trying  to  think,"  said  Na- 
than. 

Then,  after  a  moment's  pause,  he  looked 
up  into  Mary's  face,  and  said,  gently  and 
timidly, 

"  I  rather  think  you  had  better  go  and  ask 
Dorothy." 

Mary  could  hardly  help  smiling  to  observe 
how  difficult  Nathan  found  it  to  confess  his 
faults  ;  and  yet  it  gave  her  a  decided  feeling 
of  pain  to  observe  his  evident  want  of  proper 
penitence  for  having  done  what  his  con- 
science told  him  was  wrong.  She  gently  put 
Nathan  down,  and  let  him  go  away.  He 
felt  guilty,  and  accordingly  walked  slowly 
out  of  the  room,  —  his  little  hands,  with  the 
whip  in  them,  being  clasped  behind  him,  and 
the  lash  trailing  along  upon  the  floor. 

Just  at  this  moment,  Rollo  heard  the  sound 
of  wheels ;  and  at  the  same  moment  a  voice 
called  out  to  him  that  the  stage  had  come. 


29 


THE    EVENING    RIDE. 


The  stage  driver  strapped  the  trunks  upon 
the  rack,  behind  the  stage,  upon  several  oth- 
ers which  had  been  placed  there  before,  and 
covered  the  whole  with  a  large,  painted  can- 
vass, to  keep  off  the  rain.  Rollo  stood  at  the 
door  while  this  operation  was  going  forward, 
and  he  saw,  through  the  window  in  the  side 
of  the  stage,  several  persons  who  occasional- 
ly looked  out  to  see  what  new  passengers 
were  coming.  When  the  trunks  were  ready, 
Rollo  and  his  father  shook  hands  with  all 
the  members  of  the  family,  whom  they 
were  leaving,  and  bade  them  good  by.  The 
driver  opened  the  coach  door,  and  they  got 
in.  Rollo's  father  took  his  place  upon  the 
back  seat,  where  there  was  just  room  for 
him,  and  Rollo  himself  sat  upon  the  middle 
seat,  between  two  men,  with  his  back  to- 
wards his  father.  He  wanted  to  sit  by  the 
window,  but  this  was  the  only  place  that 
was  left.  He  was,  however,  glad  to  be  fair- 
3* 


30  THE    EVENING    RIDE. 

ly  in  the  stage ;  and  when  the  driver  took 
his  seat  upon  the  box,  and  started  the  horses 
along,  he  felt  perfectly  satisfied. 

His  satisfaction,  however,  did  not  continue 
very  long.  On  account  of  the  rain,  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  all  the  curtains  down,  and 
the  glasses  up,  so  that  the  stage  was  very 
close  and  rather  dark.  Rollo  could  not  see 
out  at  all.  Then,  besides,  his  seat  was  not 
very  comfortable.  There  was  a  great  strap, 
which  passed  behind  his  seat,  for  persons  to 
lean  upon.  It  was  just  high  enough  to  come 
opposite  to  the  shoulders  of  a  man,  and  of 
course  was  too  high  for  a  boy.  It  came  op- 
posite to  Rollo's  head,  and  if  he  leaned  his 
head  at  all  upon  it,  it  made  his  neck  ache. 
He  wished  very  much  that  he  had  a  seat  in 
the  corner  by  the  side  of  his  father  ;  but 
both  corners  were  occupied. 

He  got  along,  however,  pretty  well  for  the 
first  hour.  The  second  hour  it  was  harder, 
and  in  the  third,  he  became  very  much  fa- 
tigued, and  was  very  uncomfortable.  He 
thought  that,  after  all,  there  was  not  much 
pleasure  in  travelling.  His  father  and  the 
other  persons  in  the  stage  talked  together, 
but  Rollo  did  not  understand  much  that  they 


THE    EVENING    RIDE.  31 

said,  and  he  did  not  feel  much  interest  in 
what  he  did  understand.  He  almost  began 
to  wish  himself  at  home  again,  playing 
horses  with  Nathan. 

But  he  did  not  complain.  He  remem- 
bered his  father's  instructions,  and  bore  the 
fatigue  and  hardship  as  patiently  as  he 
could  ;  still  his  countenance  exhibited  a  cer- 
tain appearance  of  distress,  and  then  there 
was  something  in  his  movements  which 
rendered  it  evident  to  any  one  who  might 
observe  him,  that  he  was  not  very  comforta- 
ble. His  father,  however,  did  not  observe 
it,  for  he  was  directly  behind  him  j  and  so 
he  went  on  without  any  relief. 

At  length  the  afternoon  passed  away,  and, 
about  half  past  six  o'clock,  his  father  leaned 
a  little  forward,  and  told  him  that  they  had 
only  about  a  mile  farther  to  go  before  they 
would  reach  the  town  where  they  were  to 
take  supper.  Rollo  was  rejoiced  to  hear 
this  intelligence,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after- 
wards he  began  to  observe  houses  on  each 
side  of  the  way,  dimly  seen  through  the 
windows  of  the  coach,  as  they  passed  rapid- 
ly along.  This  made  Rollo  think  that  they 
were  coming  into  a  village ;  and  in  fact,  after 


32  THE    EVENING    RIDE. 

a  few  minutes  more,  the  coach  wheeled 
around  through  a  wide  street,  and  drew  up 
in  front  of  what  seemed  to  Rollo  to  be  a 
large  hotel. 

There  was  a  piazza  in  front  of  the  hotel, 
with  a  bench  under  it,  near  the  side  of  the 
house.  The  rain  was  dripping  down  from 
the  roof  of  the  piazza  upon  the  steps  before 
it.  A  dog  stood  at  the  top  of  the  steps, 
looking  out  towards  the  stage,  to  see  what 
passengers  had  come.  An  old  man  was  sit- 
ting upon  the  bench,  leaning  forward  upon 
a  staff.  The  driver  took  off  the  trunks  from 
the  rack  behind  the  stage,  and  put  them 
under  the  piazza.  Rollo  ran  up  the  steps 
of  the  piazza,  and  began  to  pat  the  dog's 
head. 

The  dog  growled  at  him,  and  snapped  a 
little,  as  if  he  was  going  to  bite.  Rollo  then 
left  him,  and  went  and  sat  down  upon  the 
bench,  not  far  from  the  old  man,  and  watched 
the  operations. 

The  driver  took  off  all  the  trunks,  and 
then  mounted  the  box,  and  drove  aw?y. 
Rollo  knew  that  he  had  gone  to  change  the 
horses.  A  few  minutes  after  he  had  gone, 
Rollo   heard   a   bell   ringing   in  the  house. 


THE    EVENING    RIDE.  33 

The  sound  seemed  to  come  nearer  and 
nearer,  and  at  last  a  man  appeared  at  the 
door  with  a  great  bell  in  his  hand,  which  he 
was  ringing  violently.  Roilo  wondered  what 
it  was  for. 

His    father    immediately   afterwards    ap- 
peared at  the  door,  saying, 
"Come,  Rolio." 

"  Where  ?  "  said  Roilo.  At  the  same  time 
he  arose  and  began  to  walk  along  after  his 
father. 

"  To  supper,"  replied  his  father. 
"And  are  you  going  to  leave  our  trunks 
out  here  upon  the  piazza?" 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "they  will  take 
care  of  them." 

They  walked  along  through  the  entry, 
together  with  several  other  persons  who 
came  from  the  -different  rooms.  They  at 
last  entered  a  large  apartment,  where  there 
was  a  long  table  set,  and  a  great  many  peo- 
ple were  taking  their  seats  at  it.  The  whole 
scene  was  very  new  and  very  interesting  to 
Roilo  There  was  a  waiter,  and  tea-pots, 
and  coffee-pots,  at  a  side-table,  and  upon  the 
principal  table  tliere  were  plates  of  beefsteak, 


34  THE    EVENING    RIDE. 

and  warm  rolls,  and  toast,  and  cake,  and 
many  other  things. 

"  0,  what  a  great  supper-table !  "  said 
Hollo  to  himself,  as  he  came  in. 

But  he  had  not  much  time  to  examine 
the  scene,  for  his  father  walked  immediately 
around  to  the  farther  side  of  the  table,  and 
took  his  seat,  and  placed  Rollo  by  the  side 
of  him.  A  moment  after  he  was  seated,  a 
small  waiter  was  suddenly  pushed  in  be- 
tween him  and  his  father,  by  somebody 
behind.  Rollo  looked  around,  wondering 
what  that  meant. 

"  Tea,  or  coffee  ? "  said  the  man  with  the 
waiter. 

"  Coffee,"  said  Mr.  Holiday  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  took  up  the  cup  and  saucer 
which  was  by  the  side  of  his  plate,  and  put 
it  upon  the  waiter. 

Rollo,  not  being  much  acquainted  with 
the  customs  of  the  public  houses,  had 
thought  that  the  best  way  for  him  to  do 
would  be  to  observe  his  father,  and  follow 
his  example.  So  he  took  up  his  cup,  and 
put  it  upon  the  waiter,  and  said,  at  the  same 
time, 


THE    EVENING    RIDE.  35 

"Milk  and  water  for  me." 

The  waiter  was  just  big  enough  to  hold 
two  cups,  and  the  man  went  away  with  it. 
In  a  short  time  he  returned,  and  brought  a 
cup  of  milk  and  water  for  Rollo,  and  another 
of  coffee  for  his  father.  Rollo  took  his  cup 
carefully,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  time 
that  he  sat  at  table,  he  was  quiet  and  still. 
When  he  had  any  thing  to  say  to  his  father. 
he  would  speak  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  so  as 
not  to  disturb  the  others ;  and  when  he  ob- 
served that  any  person  wanted  the  milk  or 
the  sugar,  he  would  pass  them.  Although 
the  people  around  him  were  strangers,  whom 
he  had  never  seen  before,  and  whom  he 
thought  it  probable  that  he  should  never  see 
again,  yet  he  observed  that  his  father  treat- 
ed them  all  in  a  polite  and  gentlemanly 
manner,  and  he  knew  that  it  was  proper 
that  he  should  do  so  too. 

Now  it  happened  that  a  man  sat  opposite 
to  him,  at  the  table,  who  had  been  opposite 
to  him  in  the  coach.  While  Rollo  had  been 
sitting  upon  the  middle  of  the  middle  seat, 
this  man  sat  upon  the  end  of  the  front  seat, 
in  the  corner  of  the  coach.  He  observed 
that  Rollo  was  an  unobtrusive  and  gentle 


36  THE    EVENING    RIDE. 

boy,  and  just  before  the  supper  was  ended , 
he  accosted  Rollo  thus  : 

"  Well,  my  boy,  how  do  you  get  along  i 
Can  you  stand  it  three  hours  longer  ?  " 

"  Have  we  got  to  ride  three  hours  long- 
er ? "  said  Rollo,  in  a  desponding  tone. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  about  three 
hours,  before  we  stop  for  the  night." 

Rollo 's  neck  ached,  and  his  limbs  were 
stiff,  and  he  almost  wished  himself  at  home. 
The  rain  was  driving  against  the  windows 
too,  and  it  was  growing  dark  ;  and  he  did 
not  understand  how  the  driver  could  find  his 
way  so  as  to  avoid  the  stones  and  ditches. 
He  was  afraid  the  stage  would  get  upset  ; 
and  on  the  whole  he  began  to  conclude  that 
travelling  was  much  more  pleasant  in  antici- 
pation than  in  reality.  He  wished  himself 
at  home. 

Just  then  the  door  opened,  and  a  man  with 
a  whip  in  his  hand  appeared,  saying, 

"  Stage  is  ready,  gentlemen." 

The  passengers  immediately  arose  and 
walked  out  to  the  stage.  They  got  in,  one 
after  another,  and. when  at  length  it  became 
Rollo's  turn,  the  man  who  had  spoken  to 
Rollo  at  the  table,  said  to  him, 


THE    EVENIKG    RIDE.  37 

"  Take  the  seat  in  the  corner,  my  boy  ; 
that  will  be  easier  for  you.  I'll  sit  on  the 
middle  seat  myself." 

Rollo  accordingly  took  the  seat,  and  found 
it  very  comfortable  indeed.  He  could  lean 
back  into  the  corner  which  was  formed  by 
the  back  of  the  coach  and  the  side.  It  was 
a  beautiful  seat.  The  man  seemed  pleased 
to  see  Rollo  so  well  established,  and  Rollo 
thanked  him  for  his  kindness.  The  horses 
set  off,  and  the  stage  rumbled  along  the  road, 
through  the  mud  and  rain. 

Rollo  was  very  much  pleased  with  his 
new  seat.  He  leaned  back  into  the  corner, 
and  found  a  very  comfortable  position,  where 
he  could  rest  himself  very  well.  He  began 
to  think  about  home  and  Thanny,  and  to 
wonder  what  sort  of  a  place  they  should 
come  to  at  the  end  of  their  route  for  the 
night.  It  began  to  grow  dark,  and  the  wind 
and  rain  continued  to  drive  against  the  front 
.find  side  of  the  coach,  close  to  Rollo's  ear. 
The  passengers  were  silent,  and  Rollo  soon 
became  lost  in  thought.  In  a  few  minutes, 
at  least  in  what  appeared  to  be  a  few  minutes 
to  Rollo,  he  suddenly  found  that  there  was  a 
movement  in  the  stage,  as  if  something 
4 


38  THE    EVENING    RIDE. 

extraordinary  was  going  on.  Rollo  aroused 
himself  and  sat  up.  He  found  that  it  was 
quite  dark.  The  stage  too  seemed  to  be 
standing  still.  He  wondered  how  it  came  to 
be  still.  He  did  not  notice  when  it  stopped. 
One  of  the  men  was  getting  out.  A  strong 
light,  as  from  a  lantern,  was  shining  in  at 
the  coach  door. 

The  light  glanced  upon  his  father's  face, 
and  Rollo  saw  that  his  father  was  rising 
from  his  seat. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  father  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Nothing ;  only  that  we  have  got  to  the 
end  of  our  journey." 

"  The  end  of  our  journey  !  "  said  Rollo, 
with  astonishment.  "  You  said  we  had  got 
■  to  ride  three  hours." 

"  We  have  been  riding  about  three  hours," 
said  his  father,  "since  supper." 

"  Why,  father  !  "    said  Rollo. 

"  You  have  been  asleep,"  said  his  father. 

"No,  sir,  I  have  not,"  said  Rollo. 

Rollo  had  no  time  to  say  any  thing  more, 
for  his  father  just  then  got  out  of  the  stage, 
and  Rollo  followed.  It  was  wrong  for  him 
to  contradict  his  father  so  directly,  even  if 
he  had  been  sure  that  he  was  right  and  his 


THE    EVENING    REDE.  39 

father  mistaken.  He  did  feel  sure  ;  but 
boys  very  often  feel  sure  that  they  are  right, 
when  in  fact  they  are  wrong,  — -and  there  is 
perhaps  nothing  that  they  are  more  likely  to 
be  mistaken  about,  than  in  thinking  that 
they  have  not  been  asleep,  when  they  have 
been. 

Rollo  recollected  that  he  felt  a  little  sleepy 
when  he  first  found  that  they  were  getting 
out  of  the  stage  ;  but  he  was  sure  that  he  had 
not  been  really  asleep,  and  he  wondered 
what  his  father  could  mean  by  saying  that 
he  had  travelled  three  hours.  He,  however, 
stepped  down  out  of  the  stage. 

When  down,  he  observed  that  he  was  be- 
fore a  large  hotel,  in  a  great  town.  There 
was  a  piazza  before  the  door,  somewhat  sim- 
ilar to  the  one  where  they  had  stopped  to 
supper.  Rollo  walked  slowly  up  the  steps 
of  the  piazza.  There  were  persons  walking 
to  and  fro,  and  lights  in  the  house  ;  and  the 
passengers  who  •  had  got  out  of  the  stage 
were  talking  about  their  baggage. 

"  Out  of  the  way,  boy,"  said  a  rough  voice 
behind  Rollo.  Rollo  hastily  moved  away, 
looking  around  at  the  same  time.  A  man  in 
a  green %  apron   was    coming   up   the    steps, 


40 


THE    EVENING    RIDE. 


loaded  with  carpet  bags,  cloaks,  and  other 
baggage.  Rollo  followed  him  with  his  eyes. 
The  man  carried  the  baggage  in,  and  piled 
it  up  upon  a  heap  of  trunks  which  was  lying 
in  the  entry.  Rollo  looked  for  his,  and  he 
saw  the  end  of  it,  in  the  middle  of  the  heap. 
It  was  covered  up  with  the  other  trunks  and 
baggage,  and  Rollo  was  quite  concerned  lest 
it  should  get  lost,  or  carried  away  with  the 
others. 

While  Rollo  was  looking  at  the  trunks, 
his  father  came  up  to  them.  The  man  in 
the  green  apron  was  with  him. 

"  That  is  one,"  said  Rollo's  father,  point- 
ing, with  the  end  of  his  umbrella,  to  his  own 
trunk,  which  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  heap. 

The  man  in  the  green  apren  pulled  it  out. 

"  And  there  was  another  small  one."  he 
continued. 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  Rollo,  pointing  to  his 
own  trunk. 

The  man  took  up  the  large  trunk,  and 
hove  it  upon  his  shoulder  ;  and  then,  with 
the  little  one  in  his  other  hand,  he  began  to 
go  up  stairs.  Rollo's  father  followed  with 
a  lamp,  saying, 

"  Come,  Rollo." 


THE    EVENING    RIDE.  41 

Rollo  went  up  after  his  father.  They 
came  to  a  large  chamber,  with  two  beds  in 
it,  and  some  other  furniture.  The  man  put 
the  trunks  down,  and  went  down  stairs. 
Rollo 's  father  put  his  umbrella  and  cloak 
near  the  trunks. 

"  Is  this  where  we  are  going  to  sleep  ?  " 
said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father.  "  What  do  you 
think  of  it  ?  " 

"  I  like  it  pretty  well,"  said  Rollo ;  and  he 
began  to  look  around  the  room,  and  to  exam- 
ine the  pictures  which  hung  over  the  mantel- 
piece. 

While  his  father  was  unlocking  his  trunk, 
Rollo  looked  out  at  the  window.  It  was 
dark,  but  he  could  6oe  lights  here  and  there 
at  the  windows  of  the  houses  opposite.  The 
stage-coach  had  been  driven  away  from  the 
door,  and  the  street  was  still,  excepting  that 
now  and  then  footsteps  were  heard  upon 
the  paved  side-walk,  or  a  carriage  rumbled 
slowly  by. 
6*  4* 


42 


JONAS'S    COMPASS. 

The  next  morning  Rollo  was  awakened 
by  a  very  loud  ringing  in  the  entries  of  the 
hotel.  The  sound  came  nearer  and  nearer, 
as  the  bell-ringer  advanced  up  the  stairs  and 
along  the  passage  ways.  Rollo  started  up. 
It  was  bright  daylight.  The  sun  was  shi- 
ning in  upon  the  floor,  and  one  of  the  first 
objects  which  caught  Rollo's  eye,  was  his 
father  sitting  at  a  table  near  the  window, 
writing. 

"  Why,  father  !  "  said  Rollo,  "  are  you 
up  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  I  have  been 
up  this  hour." 

"  What  is  that  bell  for  ?  "    asked  Rollo. 

"It  is  for  people  to  get  up." 

"  Then  I  suppose  i"  had  better  get  up." 

"  Yes,  if  you  want  some  breakfast." 

Rollo  arose,  and  began  to  dress  himself. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  you  had 
waked  me  up  when  you  got  up." 


JONAS's    COMPASS.  43 

"  I  thought  you  would  prefer  sleeping. 
You  were  pretty  tired  last  night." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  in  a  complain- 
ing tone,  "  I  wanted  to  write  in  my  jour- 
nal." 

His  father  did  not  make  any  reply  to  this, 
but  went  on  with  his  writing.  Rollo  thought 
it  would  have  been  such  a  fine  thing  if  he 
had  got  up  and  written  in  his  journal,  at  the 
hotel,  before  breakfast,  that  he  could  not 
conceal  his  disappointment  and  chagrin.  He 
looked  ill-humored  and  sullen,  and  at  length 
said  again, 

"  Father,  did  not  you  know  that  I  wanted 
to  write  in  my  journal  ?  " 

"  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  "  you  are  doing 
very  wrong." 

"  Why,  sir  ?  "  said  Rollo.  He  was  sitting 
upon  the  floor,  and  beginning  slowly  to  put 
on  one  of  his  stockings. 

"  In  the  first  place,  you  are  doing  wrong 
by  interrupting  me  in  my  writing.  In  the 
next  place,  you  are  doing  wrong  by  showing 
a  discontented,  dissatisfied  mind,  at  some- 
thing which  is  past,  and  cannot  be  helped. 
That  is  being  a  bad  traveller." 


44 


Rollo  had  nothing  to  say  in  reply  to  this 
reproof. 

"  Besides,"  added  his  father,  "  the  arrange- 
ment which  you  are  dissatisfied  with,  is  one 
that  I  made  for  no  other  reason  than  because 
I  supposed  it  would  be  the  most  agreeable  to 
you  ;  and  this  is  an  aggravation  of  the  fault." 

Rollo  saw  that  his  ill-humor  was  entirely 
unreasonable,  but  he  did  not  on  that  account 
cease  to  feel  ill-humored.  To  see  that  we 
feel  wrong,  and  to  begin  to  feel  right,  are 
two  very  different  things,  as  Rollo,  like  all 
other  children,  had  occasion  frequently  to 
experience. 

Rollo  sat  upon  the  floor,  drawing  on  his 
stockings,  with  no  very  pleasant  air.  His 
father  resumed  his  writing,  but  his  mind  had 
been  diverted  from  his  subject,  so  that  he 
could  not  now  go  on  advantageously  with 
his  work  ;  and  besides,  he  felt  unhappy  that 
his  son  had  so  soon  forgotten  his  instruc- 
tions. 

He  accordingly  began  to  put  up  his  pen 
and  paper,  and  returned  them  to  his  trunk. 
He  went  to  the  window,  and  observed  how 
bright  and  pleasant  the  morning  was,  and 
was  sad  to  think  how  much  the  prospect  of 


JONAS'S    COMPASS.  45 

enjoyment  for  the  day  was  marred  by  Roi- 
io's  unhappy  state  of  mind.  He  went  to 
Rollo,  and  began  to  help  him  in  his  dressing. 
Rollo's  good  humor  gradually  returned.  He 
did  not  say  in  words  that  he  was  sorry  for 
his  misconduct,  but  his  father  observed,  from 
his  looks  and  the  tone  of  his  voice,  that  he 
was  making  an  exertion  to  be  contented  and 
submissive  again. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  at  length,  "  you  did 
not  give  me  all  the  instructions  you  were 
going  to  give  me.  Couldn't  you  tell  me 
something  more  now  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father.  "  1  believe  I 
gave  you  some  rules  in  respect  to  your  in- 
ward spirit  of  mind.  Now,  I  will  tell  you 
about  your  conduct  towards  those  around 
you  in  travelling.  It  is  a  good  rule,  in  trav- 
elling, to  be  polite  to  all  strangers,  but  fa- 
miliar with  none.  I  mean  by  that,  that  you 
must  treat  every  body  with  frankness,  good- 
humor,  and  civility,  and  in  all  public  places. 
However  rough  and  coarse  other  people  may 
be,  you  must  always  be  polite  and  gentle- 
manly in  your  deportment.  But  then  you 
must  be  careful  not  to  form  sudden  intima- 
cies with  strangers,   nor  trust  much  to  their 


46 


professions,  nor  admit  them  to  your  confi- 
dence, or  to  familiarity." 

While  Rollo's  father  was  saying  this,  he 
took  out  his  watch,  and  told  Rollo  that  he 
should  have  to  finish  his  explanation  some 
other  time,  for  it  was  now  time  to  go  down 
stairs,  for  it  was  nearly  the  hour  for  break- 
fast. Rollo  was  ready,  and  so  they  went 
down. 

They  came  into  a  large  parlor,  where  sev- 
eral ladies  and  gentlemen  were  assembled. 
Some  were  seated  upon  a  sofa,  some  were 
standing  by  the  windows,  and  others  were 
walking  to  and  fro.  Rollo's  father  walked 
to  a  window,  and  took  a  seat,  Rollo  him- 
self standing  by  his  side. 

"  Father,  where  is  the  breakfast  ?  "  whis- 
pered Rollo. 

"It  is  in  another  room.  It  is  not  quite 
ready  yet." 

"  And  who  are  all  these  people  ?  "  said 
Rollo. 

"  They  are  travellers,"  replied  his  father, 
"waiting  for  their  breakfast." 

Rollo  looked  around  the  room,  to  observe 
the  travellers.  They  all  looked  just  like 
people   at  home.      A  few    were   talking  in 


47 


groups,  two  or  three  together,  but  others  sat 
by  themselves,  with  a  thoughtful  expression 
of  countenance.  There  was  one  boy  in  the 
room,  who  appeared  to  be  about  as  old  as 
Thann^.  He  was  a  plump,  ruddy-cheeked, 
little  fellow,  with  curls  of  hair  hanging 
all  over  his  face.  A  portly-looking  lady, 
dressed  in  silks  and  laces,  who  seemed  to  be 
his  mother,  was  leading  him  about.  The 
boy  had  a  picture-book  in  his  hand. 

Rollo  was  just  beginning  to  ask  his  father 
to  let  him  go  and  speak  to  that  boy,  when  a 
pair  of  folding  doors,  at  the  end  of  the  room, 
which  Rollo  had  not  before  particularly  ob- 
served," suddenly  opened,  and  displayed  a 
large  apartment  beyond,  in  which  a  long 
breakfast  table  was  set,  covered  with  cups 
and  saucers,  plates,  smoking  coffee  urns, 
plates  of  beef  steak  and  of  hot  rolls.  At  the 
same  instant  a  man  entered  through  the  fold- 
ing doors,  and  said,  bowing  to  the  company, 

•  -  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  breakfast  is 
ready." 

The  company  drew  off  into  the  breakfast 
room,  and  took  their  seats  at  the  table.  Rol- 
lo sat  by  the  side  of  his  father.  The  child, 
whom  he  had  noticed  in  the   parlor,    was 


48 


seated  directly  opposite  to  him,  and  he  was 
continually  begging  his  mother  to  give  him 
cake,  and  sugar,  and  preserves.  Rollo  ob- 
served him,  and  was  careful  not  to  follow  his 
example.  He  asked  for  nothing,  but  took 
whatever  his  father  offered  him. 

When  the  company  went  out  of  the  break- 
fast room,  after  the  breakfast  was  ended,  as 
Rollo  was  going  up  stairs,  following  his 
father,  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  child  be- 
hind him.  He  looked  round,  and  held  out 
his  hand  to  him. 

''  Run  along,  Archie,"  said  the  boy's 
mother,  "and  walk  with  that  beautiful  lit- 
tle boy." 

Rollo  felt  a  little  pleased  at  being  called  a 
beautiful  little  boy,  and  he  thought  that  the 
lady  must  be  a  very  kind  and  excellent  lady. 
He  took  hold  of  the  child's  hand,  and  said, 
as  they  went  up  the  stairs  together, 

"  Is  your  name  Archie  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Archie.  "  What  is  your 
name  ? " 

"  My  name  is  Rollo." 

u  I  came  in  the   steamboat,"  said  Archie. 

"Did  you  ?  "  said  Rollo.  u  I  came  in  the 
stage." 


49 


When  they  reached  the  head  of  the  stairs, 
Archie's  mother  went  towards  the  door  of 
her  room,  holding  her  hand  out  to  Archie  to 
follow. 

"  Come,  Archie,"  said  she. 

"  No,  mother,  I  shan't  come,"  said  Archie. 
"  I  am  going  to  stay  and  play  with  this  boy." 

"  Well,"  said  Archie's  mother,  with  a 
smile,  u  you  may  stay.  That  is  a  good  lit- 
tle boy,  I  know,  and  you  may  stay  here 
upon  the  stairs,  and  play  with  him,  a  little 
while,  if  you  wish  it." 

So  Rollo,  instead  of  following  his  father 
into  his  room,  remained  at  the  head  of  the 
stairs,  talking  with  Archie.  Rollo  took  out 
his  things  from  his  pocket,  and  showed  them 
to  him,  and  Archie  was  so  good-natured  and 
pleasant,  that  Rollo  began  to  think  that  he 
was  a  very  good  boy.  He  forgot  that  even 
bad  boys  are  good-natured  and  pleasant, 
when  they  have  what  pleases  them  ;  and 
that,  on  the  other  hand,  no  boy  can  be  good, 
who  disobeys  his  mother. 

At  last,  however,  Rollo  thought  that  he 
ought  to  go  into  his  father's  room,  and  so  he 
began  to  put  his  things  back  into  his  pocket. 

c  5 


50 


When  he  had  got  them  pretty  nearly  all  in, 
he  began  to  look  around,  and  say, 

"  And  now  where 's  my  compass  ?  " 

It  was  the  little  compass  which  Jonas  had 
given  him,  which  he  had  taken  out  to  show 
to  Archie,  and  now  it  was  gone. 

"  Haven't  you  got  it,  Archie  ?  "  said  he. 

"  No,"   said  Archie. 

Rollo  saw  that  Archie's  hand  was  shut  up, 
and  looking  at  it  attentively,  he  could  see 
the  edge  of  the  compass  between  his  fingers. 

He  seized  hold  of  his  hand,  saying,  "  You 
have  got  it ;  and  you  must  give  it  to  me." 

( Archie  began  to  scream.  He  pulled  and 
tried  to  get  away.  His  mother  came  run- 
ning to  the  door,  to  see  what  was  the  mat- 
ter. 

"  Archie  !  "  said  she,  "  Archie,  my  dear  ! 
What  is  the  matter  ?  " 

"  I  will  have  it,"  said  Archie. 

"  He  has  got  my  compass,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  Archie  !  give  him  his  compass," 
said  the  lady. 

"I  won't,"  said  Archie.  "  'Tisn't  his 
compass." 

"  Yes  it  is,"  said  Rollo  ;   "  or  rather  it's 


JONAS'S     COMPASS.  51 

Jonas's,  which  is  the  same  thing  ;  for  he  lent 
it  to  me." 

Rollo  continued  to  hold  Archie's  hand, 
and  Archie  tried  to  pull  it  away. 

"  Give"  it  to  him,  this  instant,"  said  Ar- 
chie's mother,  sternly. 

"  I  won't,"  said  Archie,  and  he  began  to 
scream  again. 

"  O  dear,  what  shall  I  do  ? "  said  Ar- 
chie's mother.  "  Rollo,  my  dear,  let  him  have 
it,  that's  a  good  boy.     Jonas  won't  care." 

At  this  instant  Archie  succeeded  in  getting 
his  hand  free  ;  he  scrambled  up,  and  away 
he  ran  to  his  mother's  room.  She  followed 
him  hastily,  and  shut  the  door.  Rollo  looked 
after  thern  a  moment,  with  an  expression  of 
amazement  in  his  countenance,  and  then  the 
tears  began  to  come  fast  into  his  eyes. 

He  sat  a  few  minutes,  not  knowing  what 
to  do.  At  length  he  arose,  brushed  away  his 
tears,  and  went,  with  a  slow  and  melancholy 
step,  into  his  father's  room.  The  door  had 
not  been  shut,  and  his  father  had  heard  all 
that  had  passed. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo,  "  I've  lost  Jonas's 
compass.  TYhat  shall  I  doj.  JPhat  old.  ugly 
Archie  has  carried  it  away." 


DA  JONAS'S    COMPASS. 

"  You  are  out  of  humor,  Rollo." 

"  Well,  father,  he  has  stolen  my  compass. n 

u  I  can't  talk  with  you  now  about  it,  for 
you  are  vexed  and  angry  ;  so  that  you  hardly 
know  what  you  are  saying.  Go  and  sit  by 
the  window,  and  see  what  is  passing  by,  un- 
til you  get  quiet  in  mind,  and  then  I  will 
talk  with  you  about  it." 

Rollers  father  then  went  on  with  his  work 
of  arranging  his  articles  in  his  trunk. 

In  about  ten  minutes,  Rollo  came  to  his 
father,  and  said, 

"  Father,  can't  I  help  you  pack  your 
trunk  ? " 

"  Why,  I  don't  know.  I  am  afraid  you 
cannot  pack  the  things  tight  enough."     * 

"  Why  must  trunks  be  packed  so  very 
tight  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  To  prevent  the  things  shaking  about.  If 
they  shake  about,  the  hard  and  heavy  things 
will  spoil  the  others." 

"How?"  said  Rollo. 

"  By  rubbing  against  them,  and  wearing 
holes  in  them.  Once  I  heard  of  a  man  who 
put  a  little  bag  of  dollars  into  his  trunk, 
without  securing  it  properly ;  he  travelled  a 
hundred  miles  with  it,  over  a  rough  road  ; 


53 


and,  at  €ie  end  of  his  journey,  he  found  that 
the  dollars  had  worn  their  way  out  of  the 
bag,  and  cut  his  clothes,  in  that  corner  of 
the  trunk,  almost  to  pieces." 

Rollo  was  silent  a  few  minutes,  thinking 
of  the  dollars ;  and  at  length  his  father  said, 

"  Have  you  got  over  your  vexation  about 
the  loss  of  the  compass,  Rollo  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  the  vexation ;  but  I  am  very 
sorry.'5 

"  I  am  not,"  said  his  father. 

"  Not  sorry  !  "  said  Rollo,  with  surprise. 

"  No." 

"  Why  not,  sir  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Because  the  lesson  you  learned  by  it  is 
worth  more  than  the  compass." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean,  father." 

"  Why,  I  cautioned  you  against  familiarity 
with  strangers ;  and  now  you  see  the  neces- 
sity of  |?eing  on  your  guard." 

"  But,  father,  I  didn't  know  that  Archie 
was  such  a  bad  boy." 

"  No,  I  know  you  didn't.  But  you  knew 
he  was  a  stranger.  What  I  warned  you 
against,  was  sudden  familiarity  with  stran- 
gers, not  with  bad  boys." 

Rollo  did  not  answer. 
5  * 


54 


"  But  you  must  not  think  I  blame  you, 
Roll  o ;  for  what  you  did.  Perhaps  you  were 
a  little  in  fault,  for  not  coming  in  with  me, 
or  at  least  not  asking  my  leave  to  stay  and 
play  with  Archie.  Still  that  was  a  very 
slight  error  ;  and,  in  showing  him  your  play- 
things, I  have  no  doubt  you  were  actuated 
by  feelings  of  kindness  and  good-will.  So 
that  I  don't  consider  that  you  were  to  blame, 
and  have  been  justly  punished,  but  only  that 
you  have  learned  something  by  painful  ex- 
perience, which  you  could  not  thoroughly 
learn  in  any  other  way  ;  and  I  am  glad  it  is 
well  over  — just  as  I  was  glad  when  you  had 
fairly  got  through  having  the  whooping 
cough." 

"  I  wish  I  could  have  learned  it,"  said 
Rollo,  "  without  losing  my  compass." 

"  Every  body  has  to  lose  something,  by 
the  selfishness  and  injustice  of  others,  and 
you  will  do  very  well  if  you  escape  with 
losing  only  such  a  compass.  I  have  known 
young  men  to  lose  large  sums  of  money,  by 
trusting  to  strangers,  or  by  sudden  familiarity 
with  them.  I  hope  you  will  be  on  your 
guard  now,  and  so  avoid  more  serious 
losses," 


55 


Rollo  was  sitting  upon  a  carpet  bag,  dur- 
ing this  conversation  j  and  now,  while  his 
father  was  strapping  up  his  trunk,  after  hav- 
ing said  those  words,  he  remained  a  few 
moments  apparently  lost  in  thought.  At 
length  he  said  again, 

"  But,  father,  there  is  one  trouble ;  the 
compass  was  Jonas's,  and  so  the  loss  comes 
upon  him ;  and  it  ought  to  come  upon  me." 

"I  was  thinking  of  that  myself,"  said 
his  father;  "and  I  can  remedy  that  diffi- 
culty, by  going  with  you,  and  buying  him 
another." 

"  And  then  that  will  bring  the  loss  upon 
you.11 

"  O,  I  don't  care  any  thing  about  that," 
replied  his  father  ;  "  for,  in  fact,  I  should 
like  to  buy  Jonas  another  compass,  —  a  bet- 
ter one  than  the  one  you  have  lost.  So  you 
see  we  need  not  be  troubled  about  the  affair 
at  all.  You  were  not  to  blame.  It  was 
only  your  childish  inexperience ;  and  you 
have  learned  something  about  a  kind  of 
smooth-faced  selfishness  and  injustice,  which 
is  very  common  in  the  world,  that  you 
could  not  have  learned  in  any  other  way. 
So  I  am  rather  glad  of  the  whole  affair.  7 


56  JONAS'S    COMPASS. 

Hollo's  father  then  took  his  watch  out  of 
his  pocket,  and  said  that  it  was  time  to  go 
out  and  do  some  of  his  business. 

"  What  business  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  O,  I  have  got  a  great  many  little  pur- 
chases to  make,"  replied  his  father,  "  and 
among  the  rest,  Jonas's  new  compass." 

Rollo  went  with  his  father,  and  they  spent 
nearly  all  the  morning  in  the  shops ;  but,  af- 
ter all,  they  had  to  put  oif  buying  the  com- 
pass until  after  dinner. 


GETTING    ADRIFT, 


R'ollo  and  his  father  were  going  away  in 
the  steamboat,  that  afternoon.  The  steam- 
boat was  to  start  at  five  o'clock,  and  about 
three  Rollo's  father  said  that  it  was  time  to 
go  and  get  their  trunks  ready. 

They  were  both  in  a  jeweller's  shop  when 
he  said  this.  They  had  been  buying  Jonas's 
new  compass.  The  compass  had  been  se- 
lected and  paid  for,  and  the  man  who  kept 
the  shop  had  wrapped  it  up  neatly  in  a 
brown  paper,  and  given  it  to  Rollo,  to  put 
into  his  pocket.  So  that  their  business  at 
the  shop  was  done,  only  Rollo  was  looking 
about  to  see  the  curious  things  which  were 
in  the  glass  cases,  and  upon  the  shelves. 

He  would  have  liked  to  have  staid  a  little 
longer ;  but  he  followed  his  father  very 
cheerfully,  when  he  was  told  that  it  was 
time  to  go.  When  he  got  out  into  the 
street,  however,  he  asked  his  father  what 
o'clock  it  was. 


58  GETTING     iDRIFT. 

"About  three,"  replied  his  father. 

"  And  what  time  does  the  boat  go  ? " 

"At  five." 

"Then  it  is  two  hours  before  we  must  be 
at  the  boat,"  said  Rollo  ;  "and  why  need  we 
leave  the  shop  so  soon  ?  " 

"  i  ordered  the  carriage  to  come  at  four," 
said  his  father  ;  "  and  it  will  take  us  nearly 
an  hour  to  get  to  the  hotel,  settle  the  bill 
and  pack,  lock,  and  strap  our  trunks,  and  get 
all  ready." 

"  I  should  not  think  it  would  take  a  whole 
hour,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,  it  need  not  take  a  whole  hour  ;  but 
I  wanted  to  make  ample  allowance,  so  that 
we  can  take  it  leisurely,  and  preserve  a  quiet 
mind.  A  great  deal  of  the  comfort  of  trav- 
elling- consists  in  keeping  always  a  quiet 
mind,  so  as  never  to  be  hurried  and  wor- 
ried." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  And  then  I  don't  think  it  will  take  us 
an  hour  to  get  to  the  boat  from  the  hotel.  It 
is  not  more  than  half  a  mile.  But  then  the 
coachman  may  not  be  exactly  punctual,  and 
it  will  take  him  some  time  to  strap  on  the 
trunks  ;   and  we  may  be  delayed   by  some 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  59 

unforeseen  occurrence.  Besides,  I  like  to 
get  to  the  boat  half  an  hour  before  the  time 
for  starting,  and  then  I  can  get  my  baggage 
all  safely  arranged,  before  the  confusion." 

"  The  confusion  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father  ;  "  the  last  fifteen 
minutes  before  the  boat  sails,  is  a  time  of 
confusion,  as  you  will  see.  Wise  travellers, 
now,  take  pains  to  avoid  all  scenes  of  hurry 
and  confusion,  as  much  as  possible,  so  as  to 
keep  their  minds  calm  and  quiet.  To  secure 
this,  there  are  two  things  necessary." 

"  What  two  things  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Plenty  of  time,  and  plenty  of  money." 

"  Travellers  can  always  take  plenty  of 
time,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  suppose ;  but  perhaps 
they  can't  always  get  plenty  of  money." 

"  Then  let  them  take  a  shorter  journey." 

"But  perhaps  their  business  requires  that 
they  should  take  a  long  journey,"  said  Rollo. 

"  O,  business  !  "  said  his  father.  "  I  am 
speaking  rather  of  journeys  for  pleasure.  At 
any  rate  they  can  generally  make  a  sufficient 
allowance  for  time.  We  can,  certainly,  this 
afternoon." 

By  this  time  they  arrived  at  the  hotel. 
Rollo 's  father  went  to  the  bar  and  paid  his 


60  GETTING    ADRIFT. 

bill,  and  then  they  both  prepared  their  trunks 
to  go  on  board  the  boat.  The  coachman 
came  about  five  minutes  after  the  time  ap- 
pointed ;  and  then  it  took  about  five  minutes 
more  to  get  the  trunks  fastened  upon  the 
rack  behind  the  coach,  so  that  it  was  about 
half  past  four  when  they  reached  the  steam- 
boat wharf. 

"  Why,  father  !  "  said  Rollo,  "  how  nar- 
row the  sea  is  !  " 

"The  sea?"  repeated  his  father;  "this 
is  not  the  sea." 

"  What  is  it,  then  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  A  river,"  replied  his  father. 

"  I  thought  we  were  going  to  sail  upon 
the  sea,"  replied  Rollo. 

"  So  we  are,  by  and  by.  We  shall  sail 
down  the  river,  to  its  mouth,  and  then  come 
out  to  the  sea." 

"  We  are  going  down  that  way,  then," 
said  Rollo,  pointing  along  towards  the  town 
they  came  from. 

"  No,"  replied  his  father ;  "  down  is  that 
way."  And  he  pointed  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection. 

"  Then  the  water  is  all  running  wp,"  said 
Rollo. 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  61 

"  What  makes  you  think  so  ? "  said  his 
father. 

"  O,  I  can  see  the  bubbles  and  sticks 
sailing  along." 

While  they  were  talking  in  this  way,  the 
men  who  belonged  on  board  the  boat  we.e 
taking  off  their  trunks,  and  carrying  them  on. 
board.  Rollo  and  his  father  followed,  walk- 
ing over  upon  a  broad  plank.  There  were 
several  people  coming  and  going.  A  great. 
fire  was  burning  under  the  boiler,  and  men 
were  putting  in  more  wood.  The  steam  was 
hissing  out  of  the  waste  steam-pipe.  There 
was  another  plank,  which  led  to  the  boat, 
near  the  bows,  and  they  were  rolling  a  great 
many  heavy  boxes  and  barrels  in,  over  it. 
Rollo  followed  his  father  around,  until  he 
was  confused  and  lost  among  the  multipli- 
city of  doors,  and  staircases,  and  passages, 
and  heaps  of  baggage.  In  one  place,  he 
found  a  monstrous  great  boat,  hanging  from 
iron  chains,  by  the  side  of  the  ladies'  cabin. 

At  length,  after  Rollo's  father  had  attend- 
ed to  the  baggage,  he  took  Rollo  ud  a  nar- 
row staircase,  which  led  to  a  high  place, 
which  Rollo  called  the  roof,  but  which  his 
father  said  was  the  promenade  deck.  It  was 
6 


62  GETTING    ADRIFT. 

flat  and  smooth  like  a  floor,  and  it  had  a  long 
seat,  with  railing,  extending  all  around  it. 
There  were  stools  and  settees  upon  it,  and 
our  two  travellers  took  two  of  the  stools,  and 
drew  them  up  to  one  end  of  the  boat,  and 
seated  themselves  there.  Hollo  observed  a 
stout  pole  standing  upright  by  the  side  of 
him.  He  looked  up  to  see  what  was  at  the 
top  of  it.  He  saw  a  large  flag  floating  in  the 
wind,  with  stars  and  stripes  upon  it. 

Rollo  sat  here  with  his  father,  for  several 
minutes,  examining  all  the  surrounding  ob- 
jects with  great  interest  and  attention.  It 
was  a  pretty  broad  river,  with  sloops  and 
boats  passing  up  and  down  upon  the  water. 
The  steamboat  wharf  was  about  half  a  mile 
below  the  town,  and  at  a  little  distance  be- 
low it,  there  was  a  pleasant,  sandy  beach, 
with  a  small  boat  lying  upon  it.  There 
were  several  children  in  the  boat,  but  it 
would  not  sail,  for  about  half  of  it  rested 
upon  the  sand. 

Rollo  sat  watching  the  children  in  the 
boat.  While  he  was  observing  them,  a  plain- 
looking  woman,  with  two  children,  came  up 
upon  the  promenade  deck.  The  woman  led 
the  two  children  to  a  seat,  and  then  she  went 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  63 

back  again  to  look  after  her  baggage ,  One 
of  them  was  a  girl,  and  the  other  a  boy.  The 
girl  was  the  oldest,  and  the  boy  was  ahent  as 
big  as  Rollo.  When  their  mother  left  them, 
she  told  them  not  to  go  away  from  that  seat, 
until  she  came  again. 

They  sat  there  a  minute  or  two,  and  then 
Rollo  asked  his  father  if  he  might  go  and 
see  them.     His  father  said,  yes. 

"  But  remember  the  rule,"  said  his  father, 
in  a  low  tone.  "  Be  civil  to  all  strangers,  but, 
familiar  with  none." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  will." 

So  he  ran  along,  and  began  to  talk  with 
the  boy.  He  found  that  his  name  was 
Thomas ;  and  that  he  and  his  sister  and 
mother  were  going  in  the  steamboat,  with 
Rollo. 

They  looked  over  the  railing  at  the  boys 
in  the  boat,  and  saw  them  trying  to  push  it 
off.  The  boys  untied  a  rope,  by  which  the 
boat  was  fastened  to  a  stake,  upon  the  shore, 
and  then,  with  a  long  pole  which  they  had, 
they  could  push  the  stern  one  way  and 
another,  through  the  water.  The  bows  all 
the  time  stuck  fast  in  the  sand. 

At    length    the    boys    spied    Rollo    and 


64 


GETTING    ADRIFT. 


Thomas  looking  at  them ;  and  they  called 
out  to  them  to  come  and  sail  too. 

"No,"  said  Thomas;  "  you  will  get  adrift 
pretty  soon,  and  then  away  you'll  go." 

"  No,"  replied  one  of  the  boys,  "  we  can't 
get  adrift,  for  the  bows  are  aground." 

*  And,  besides,"  said  another  boy,  "if  we 
do,  we  can  push  in  ashore  again,  with  our 
long  pole." 

"  I  mean  to  go  and  sail,"  said  Thomas. 

"  No,"  replied  his  sister  ;  "  mother  said 
we  must  not  go  away  from  here." 

"  But,  I  will  go  and  ask  her,"  said 
Thomas. 

"  You  can't  find  her,"  rejoined  the  girl. 

"  O,  yes,"  said  he,  "  I  can  ;  she  is  down 
below." 

"  But  she  said  you  must  not  go  away  from 
here." 

"  I  don't  care,"  said  Thomas ;  "  1  mean 
to  go  and  ask  her." 

Rollo  was  at  first  inclined  to  go  and  ask 
his  father  to  let  him  go  too ;  but  he  imme- 
diately reflected  that  to  go  down  with  all 
those  boys,  to  paddle  about  in  the  boat, 
would  be  quite  too  much  of  the  nature  of  a 
sudden  intimacy  with  strangers,  to  make  it 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  65 

at  all  probable  that  his  father  would  approve 
of  it.  He  therefore  sat  still  upon  the  seat, 
resting  his  arm  over  the  railing  ;  and  look- 
ing down  towards  the  boat,  he  awaited  the 
result. 

"  Father,"  said  he  presently,  "  what  is  it 
that  makes  the  water  run  up  the  river  ? " 

lf  Because,"  replied  his  father,  "  the  tide 
is  rising.  The  tide  rises  in  the  sea,  and  that 
makes  the  water  flow  back  in  all  the  rivers 
which  empty  into  the  sea,  to  some  distance 
from  their  mouths.  That  is  the  case  here, 
now.  The  tide  is  rising  in  the  sea,  and  so 
the  water  flows  back,  and  is  running  up  the 
river." 

"  I  don't  see  how  it  can  run  up"  said 
Rollo. 

"  It  is  not  running  up,  strictly  speaking. 
It  is  really  running  down  ;  that  is,  it  is  de- 
scending, all  the  time,  though  it  flows  in  the 
direction  which  we  ordinarily  call  up  the 
river.  But  there  is,  after  all,  no  running 
up,  for  the  tide  rises  at  sea,  so  as  to  make 
the  water  there  higher  than  it  is  in  the  river, 
and  so  it  flows  down  into  the  river ;  and 
that  makes  the  river,  near  the  mouth,  higher 

c*  6* 


66  GETTING    ADRIFT. 

than  it  is  farther  back,  and  then  the  water 
flows  down  into  that  pait  of  the  channel 
which  is  farther  back." 

"  Q,  there  goes  Thomas,"  said  Rollo, 
"  I  didn't  think  his  mother  would  have  let 
him  go." 

The  truth  was,  his  mother  had  not  given 
him  leave  to  go.  He  was  not  able  to  find 
her.  She  had  gone  into  the  ladies'  cabin; 
and  so,  when  he  descended  from  the  prome- 
nade deck,  although  he  found  a  great  many 
people  coming  and  going,  his  mother  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  He  waited  here  a  few 
moments,  looking  about  for  her,  and  then  he 
concluded  to  go  without  leave.  He  satisfied 
himself  partly  by  thinking  that  he  would 
come  back  in  a  minute,  and  that  his  mother 
would  not  see  him,  and  partly  by  the  idea 
that  she  could  not  possibly  have  any  objec- 
tion. 

Thomas  accordingly  stepped  cautiously 
over  the  broad  plank,  then  made  his  way 
between  the  boxes  and  barrels  which  were 
upon  the  wharf,  and  thence  descended  to  the 
shore ;  and  the  boys  making  room  for  him, 
he  stepped   over  into  the  boat.     The   boat 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  67 

was  a  little  unsteady,  as  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  it  was  afloat ;  he  staggered  along, 
however,  to  a  seat,  and  sat  down. 

Rollo  could  not  help  wishing  that  he  was 
there  too,  though  he  had  too  much  good 
sense  to  ask  his  father.  The  boy  with  the 
long  pole  stood  at  the  stern  of  the  boat, 
which  was  out  upon  the  water,  and  pushed 
it  first  away  over  to  one  side,  and  then  back 
to  the  other,  thus  giving  the  boys  each  time 
what  they  called  a  little  sail.  They  were 
all  little  boys,  or  they  would  have  known 
better  than  this,  for  the  rising  of  the  tide, 
and  the  heaving  of  the  stern,  in  this  manner, 
to  and  fro,  were  gradually  working  the  boat 
off  from  the  beach ;  and  at  length  it  cleared 
itself  just  as  the  boy  was  giving  a  vigorous 
push  with  his  pole,  and  it  accordingly  glided 
off  slowly  into  the  current. 

"O  dear  me!"  cried  out  Thomas,  "we 
are  going  off!  we're  going  off!   O  dear  me  !  " 

He  ran  at  the  same  instant  towards  the 
bow  of  the  boat,  which  was  towards  the 
shore ;  and  the  other  little  boys  crowded 
there  too. 

"  Push  her  back,  Joe,"  called  out  another 
boy,  addressing  the  one  who  had  the  pole ; 


68  GETTING    ADRIFT. 

"why  don't  you  push  her  back?  —  You 
fool ! " 

The  truth  was,  Joe  was  trying  to  push 
her  back,  but  when  he  pushed  on  one  side 
the  boat  only  turned  to  the  other,  moving 
out  more  and  more  into  the  current.  The 
other  boy  went  angrily  to  him,  to  take  the 
pole  away,  and  at  the  same  moment, 
Thomas,  who  was  really  frightened,  and 
saw  that  they  were  only  going  farther  and 
farther  from  the  shore,  jumped  off  as  far  as 
he  could  towards  the  sand.  He  saw,  before 
he  leaped,  that  the  distance  was  too  great 
for  him  to  leap  over  entirely,  but  the  crisis 
was  urgent,  and  justified,  he  thought,  a  des- 
perate measure.  He  came  down  into  the 
water  where  it  was  about  up  to  his  knees. 
The  water  dashed  up  into  his  face  and  half 
blinded  him.  He,  however,  had  sufficient 
possession  of  his  faculties  to  stagger  on  to- 
wards the  shore,  which  he  reached  by  a  few 
steps,  drenched  with  the  water,  terrified,  and 
overwhelmed  with  self-reproach  and  guilty 
fears. 

In  the  mean  time  the  boat  drifted  on, 
borne  by  the  tide,  and  the  boys  sat  upon 
the  thwarts  crying,  or  stood  looking  at  the 


GETTING    ADRIFT.  69 

shore  in  silent  despair.  The  men  and  boys 
upon  the  wharf,  and  on  the  decks  of  the 
steamboat,  looked  upon  them  as  they  went. 
Some  pitied  them;  but  others  mocked  and 
derided  them.  At  length,  however,  some- 
body had  compassion  upon  them  so  far  as 
to  go  off  in  another  boat,  and  to  bring  them 
all  back  safe  to  the  shore. 


70 


THE   ENGINE. 


Rollo  saw  no  more  of  Thomas,  and  in 
fact  he  thought  very  little  more  about  him 
at  that  time,  for  the  crowd  and  movement  in 
and  about  the  boat  had  now  greatly  in- 
creased, and  he  was  very  much  interested  in 
watching  what  was  going  on.  Carriages 
and  carts  were  pouring  in  upon  the  wharf  in 
a  continued  stream,  bringing  passengers  and 
baggage ;  apple  and  orange  women  were 
moving  to  and  fro,  offering  fruit  to  all  pur- 
chasers ;  and  boys,  with  newspapers,  a  pen- 
ny a  piece,  damp  from  the  press,  walked 
about  trying  to  sell  them,  or  stood  near  the 
plank  to  intercept  the  new  comers.  Rollo 
was  very  glad  that  he  and  his  father  had  ar- 
rived in  such  good  season. 

Just  then  a  bell  rang  violently.  Rollo's 
father  told  him  that  it  was  the  first  bell.  In 
ten  minutes  more  there  was  another,  which 
made  a  tolling  sound.  "  All  ashore  !  "  shout- 
ed out  a  man  below.     Then   there  was   a 


THR     ENGINE.  71 

great  bustle  upon  the  plank,  made  by  the 
fruit  women  and  boys,  and  all  other  persons 
who  were  not  to  go  in  the  boat,  hurrying 
across  the  plank  to  the  wharf.  The  cables 
which  confined  the  steamboat  to  the  great 
posts  upon  the  corner  of  the  wharf  were  then 
cast  off,  and  the  ends  fell  into  the  water,  and 
were  drawn  in  by  the  hands  on  board  the 
boat,  and  neatly  coiled.  The  great  paddle 
wheels  began  to  revolve  ;  the  loud  and  al- 
most deafening  hissing  of  the  steam  sudden- 
ly ceased ;  and  the  boat  swept  majestically 
around  out  into  the  river.  "  We  are  going 
off,"  said  Rollo,  "  we  are  going  off,"  clapping 
his  hands  with  delight. 

It  is  remarkable  that  he  used  the  same 
words  that  Thomas  had  used,  just  before, 
when  the  boat  was  adrift  j  though  he  spoke 
them  with  a  feeling  of  the  greatest  interest 
and  pleasure,  while  in  Thomas's  case,  they 
were  expressions  of  the  utmost  anxiety  and 
terror.  So  much  does  our  happiness  or  our 
misery  depend  upon  our  being  in  the  way 
of  duty. 

For,  in  fact,  Thomas  was  m  no  more 
danger  in  drifting  away  in  the  boat,  than 
Rollo  was  now  'v.  the  steamboat.     The  water 


72  THE    ENGINE. 

was  smooth,  and  the  tide  was  setting  in,  so 
that  they  could  not  drift  out  to  sea.  Then 
there  were  plenty  of  people  all  around,  who, 
though  they  might  tease  and  deride  them  at 
first,  would  certainly  go  and  get  them  before 
long.  So  that  Thomas's  fear  and  anxiety 
were  owing  to  his  sense  of  guilt,  and  not  to 
any  real  danger. 

Rollo  was  much  pleased  to  see  the  trees 
and  banks  moving,  or  rather  apparently  mov- 
ing, as  the  boat  glided  by.  There  was  one 
great  oak,  which  stood  upon  a  headland  or 
promontory,  where  the  boat  passed  very  near 
the  shore.  Rollo  could  hardly  convince  him- 
self that  this  oak  was  not  actually  moving, 
though  he  knew  very  well  that  a  tree  could 
not  move,  when  it  was  planted  in  the  solid 
ground. 

After  sailing  on  in  this  way  a  few  minutes, 
Rollo  exclaimed, 

"  O,  father,  here  comes  a  vessel ;  how 
fast  it  sails !  and  it  is  sailing  stern  foremost." 

The  vessel  which  Rollo  pointed  to,  swept 
swiftly  along  the  side  of  the  steamboat,  and 
disappeared  behind  the  wheel-house,  for,  at 
this  time,  Rollo  and  his  father  were  sitting 
upon  the  trunks,  by  the  side  of  the  ladies' 


THE    ENGINE.  73 

cabin,  upon  the  main  deck.  Rollo  wanted, 
to  know  what  made  the  vessel  go  so  fast, 
without  any  sails.  His  father  did  not  answer 
him.  He  seemed  to  be  looking  at  some- 
thing upon  the  shore  beyond,  or  else  lost  in 
thought. 

"  Father"  said  Rollo,  again,  laying  his 
hand  upon  his  father's  knee,  "  what  made 
that  vessel  go  so  fast,  without  any  sails  ?  " 

"  She  was  not  going,"  replied  his  father. 

"  O,  father  !  "  said  Rollo. 

u  She  appeared  to  you  to  be  in  motion ; 
but  the  motion  is  really  in  the  steamboat. 
The  vessel  was  at  rest." 

"  But  how  do  you  know,  father  ?  The 
steamboat  might  be  moving,  and  the  vessel 
too." 

"  Yes  ;  but  I  noticed  certain  almost  infal- 
lible indications  that  the  vessel  was  at  rest. 
You  judged  from  appearances,  and  so  did  I ; 
though  the  appearances  which  I  observed 
were  more  safe  grounds  for  judgment  than 
yours." 

"  What  were  the  appearances  which  you 
judged  from,  father  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  In  the  first  place,"  his  father  replied, 
"the   fact  that  there   were  no   sails  spread, 

a         r 


74  THE    ENGINE. 

proved  that  she  was  still  j  for  without  sails 
she  could  not  move,  unless  she  was  drifting 
with  the  tide ;  and  if  she  had  got  adrift,  in 
any  way,  the  men  on  board  would  not  have 
been  so  quiet  and  easy,  but  would  have  been 
at  work  to  secure  her,  to  prevent  her  going 
ashore.  Did  not  you  see  the  captain  standing 
there  very  contented  and  easy,  with  his  foot 
upon  a  barrel,  and  his  chin  upon  his  hand  ?  " 

"  Was  that  the  captain  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  so ;  or  the  mate.  But 
there  was  another  appearance,  more  conclu- 
sive still,  indicating  that  the  vessel  was  at 
rest." 

"  What  was  it  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  It  was  a  dark  line  issuing  from  the  bows 
and  running  down  into  the  water.  You, 
perhaps,  did  not  notice  it ;  but  my  eye  caught 
it  at  once,  as  that  is  the  place  where  the  ca- 
ble is  to  be  seen,  when  a  vessel  is  at  anchor. 
I  observed  that  the  cable  was  straight  and 
tense,  as  if  the  vessel  was  pulling  upon  it 
pretty  hard.  So  I  saw  at  once  that  she  was 
confined  securely,  and  still, — just  as  you 
would  see  that  a  horse  was  not  travelling,  if 
you  got  only  a  single  glimpse  of  the  halter 
by  which  he  was  tied  to  the  post.7' 


THE    ENGINE.  75 

Just  at  this  moment  Rollo's  attention  was 
aroused  by  hearing  a  sudden  burst  of  sound 
down  by  the  side  of  the  steamboat ;  and 
volumes  of  white  steam  began  to  pour  up 
from  the  water.  Rollo  started  up ;  he 
thought  the  boiler  had  burst.  He  looked  at 
his  father,  wondering  why  he  did  not  run. 
But  his  father  was  sitting  still  and  quiet  as 
ever,  and  so  Rollo  felt  a  little  relieved,  and 
instead  of  running  away  he  contented  him- 
self with  asking, 

"  What  is  that  ?  " 

"  Only  letting  off  a  little  steam." 

"  O,"  said  Rollo. 

He  took  his  seat,  but  in  a  moment  he  said 
again, 

"  O,  father,  let  us  go  and  see  the  engine." 

"Well,"  replied  his  father,  "I  will  go 
and  show  you  the  engine,  if  you  wish  to 
see  it." 

Rollo  accordingly  took  his  father's  hand, 
and  they  walked  along  towards  the  middle 
of  the  steamboat.  They  passed  by  a  place 
where  there  was  a  sort  of  window  open,  and 
a  great  crowd  of  men  before  it. 

"  What  are  those  men  doing  ?  "  said  Rollo. 


76  THE    ENGINE. 

"  They  are  paying  their  fare,"  said  his 
father. 

"  How  much  must  you  pay  for  me  ? " 
said  Rollo. 

"  About  half  price,  I  suppose,"  replied  his 
father. 

"  I  should  think  you  ought  to  pay  more 
than  half  price  for  me,"  said  Rollo  ;  "I  am 
pretty  heavy." 

His  father  made  no  reply  to  this,  but 
moved  on  slowly,  leading  Rollo  by  the  hand, 
between  the  crowd  and  a  great  pile  of  boxes. 

"  What  is  in  all  these  boxes  ? "  asked 
Rollo. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  his  father.  "  Some 
sort  of  merchandise,  I  suppose." 

"  O,  father,"  exclaimed  Rollo,  "what  is 
that  ? " 

He  spoke  in  a  tone  of  great  surprise,  and 
pointed  directly  before  him.  It  was  a  large, 
round  beam  of  iron,  which  extended  across 
the  passage  where  they  were  walking,  about 
as  high  as  Rollo's  shoulders;  and  it  was 
slowly  revolving,  —  round  and  round.  Rollo 
could  only  see  the  middle  of  it,  for  the  two 
ends  passed  into  the  two  opposite  partitions, 


THE    ENGINE.  79 

and  of  course  were  concealed  from  view. 
Rollo  stopped,  and  looked  a  little  afraid  of 
this  ponderous  piece  of  machinery. 

"  What  is  it,  father?  "  said  he. 

"  That  is  the  main  shaft,"  answered  his 
father ;  and  he  walked  up  and  put  his  hand 
upon  it.  The  heavy  axle  kept  turning  on 
steadily  under  his  hand,  just  as  before. 

"  What  is  it  for  ? "  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  this  end,"  replied  Rollo 's  father, 
pointing  to  the  end  which  extended  out 
towards  the  side  of  the  boat,  —  "  this  end  is 
fastened  to  the  middle  of  the  great  paddle- 
wheel,  at  the  side  of  the  steamboat,  and  it 
carries  the  wheel  round  in  the  water,  and  the 
paddles  strike  the  water,  and  that  makes  the 
boat  go  along." 

Rollo  looked  upon  the  revolving  axle  a 
moment  in  silence,  and  with  an  expression 
of  wonder  upon  his  countenance.  At  length 
lie  said, 

"  And  where  does  the  other  end  go  ?  " 

"  It  goes  into  the  engine  room,"  replied 
his  father,  "  and  is  connected  with  the  ma- 
chinery." 

"  t  wish  I  could  see,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Come,"  replied  his  father,  "  we  will  go 


80  THE    ENGINE. 

and  look  into  the  engine  room."     And  he 
and  Rollo  walked  along. 

They  came  to  a  door,  which  was  open, 
and  Rollo  looked  in.  He  saw  a  great  deal 
of  complicated  machinery.  He  could  not 
understand  it  at  all. 

"  What  makes  the  great  shaft  go  round?", 
asked  Rollo. 

"  The  crank,"  replied  his  father. 

"  What  is  the  crank?" 

Then  his  father  pointed  him  to  the  place 
where  the  end  of  the  main  shaft  came 
through  the  wall  into  the  engine  room,  and 
he  saw  that  there  was  a  crank,  somewhat 
like  the  crank  of  a  grindstone,  which  went 
round  and  round,  carrying  the  main  shaft 
with  it.  There  was  a  great,  heavy  iron 
beam,  which  descended  from  above,  and  the 
lower  end  was  fastened  to  the  crank,  and 
went  up  and  over,  and  then  down  and  back, 
as  the  crank  went  round. 

"  And  what  makes  the  crank  go  round?  " 
asked  Rollo. 

"  The  pitman,"  replied  his  father. 

a  What  is  the  pitman?  " 

"  It  is  that  great  beam  which  comes  down 
from  above,  and  carries  the  crank." 


THE    ENGINE.  81 

Rollo  looked  at  the  heavy  pitman,  which 
rose  and  descended,  and  swept  round  majes- 
tically, carrying  the  crank  with  prodigious 
power. 

"  And  what  makes  the  pitman  go  ?  "  said 
Rollo. 

"  The  beam,"  said  his  father. 

"  What  is  the  beam  ?  "    said  Rollo. 

"  You  see  it  there,"  said  his  father,  point- 
ing up.  It  was  a  large  iron  frame,  coming 
almost  to  a  point  at  each  end,  and  poised  in 
the  centre  upon  a  pivot,  upon  which  it 
moved  up  and  down,  like  a  see-saw,  one  end 
up  and  the  other  down.  The  pitman  was 
attached  to  one  end ;  and  so,  when  that  end 
of  the  beam  rose,  the  pitman  was  drawn  up, 
and  it  drew  up  the  crank  with  it,  and  when 
it  went  down,  it  carried  the  crank  down 
over  the  other  side,  and  so  made  it  con- 
stantly revolve. 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  but  now  what  makes 
the  beam  go  ?  " 

"  The  piston  rod,"  replied  his  father. 

"  What  is  the  piston  rod  ?  " 

"It  is  that  long,  bright,  oily-looking  iron 
rod,  which  is  fastened  to  the  other  end  of 
the  beam." 


82  THE    ENGINE. 

Hollo  looked  at  the  piston  rod.  It  was 
about  as  large  round  as  a  man's  arm  at  the 
shoulder  It  hung  down  from  the  beam,  at 
the  end  opposite  to  the  one  where  the  pit- 
man was  fastened.  When  the  piston  rod 
went  up,  it  pushed  up  that  end  of  the  beam, 
and  when  it  came  down,  it  pulled  it  down, 
and  so  kept  the  beam  in  motion.  Hollo  ob- 
served that  when  it  descended,  it  went  into 
a  small  hole,  just  big  enough  to  admit  it,  in 
the  top  of  a  great,  round  thing,  shaped  some- 
what like  a  hogshead,  only  it  was  taller,  and 
the  sides  were  straight.  The  piston  rod 
went  down,  the  whole  length,  into  this  hole, 
and  then  came  up  again  looking  bright  and 
oily. 

"  And  what  makes  the  piston  rod  move 
up  and  down?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  The  piston,"  said  his  father. 

"  What  is  the  piston  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"It  is  out  of  sight,  in  that  great,  round 
thing  which  is  called  the  cylinder.  It  is 
fastened  to  the  end  of  the  piston  rod,  and  is 
round  and  flat,  and  just  broad  enough  to  fill 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  cylinder,  inside. 
When  this  piston  goes  up,  it  makes  the 
piston  rod,  which  is  fastened  to  the  upper 


THE    ENGINE.  83 

side  of  it,  go  up,  and  when  it  comes  down,  it 
draws  the  piston  rod  down." 

"  And  what  makes  the  piston  move  up  and 
down  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  The  steam  in  the  cylinder.  The  hot 
steam  is  forced  in  with  prodigious  power, 
first  under  the  piston,  and  that  drives  the 
piston  up,  and  then  it  is  let  out  below,  and 
more  steam  is  forced  in  above  the  piston,  and 
that  drives  it  down;  and  so  the  steam,  being 
first  driven  in  above  and  then  below,  makes 
the  piston  rise  and  fall." 

"  And  what  makes  the  steam  go  into  the 
cylinder  first  above  the  piston,  and  then  be- 
low," said  Rollo. 

"The  valve  apparatus,"  said  his  father. 

"  What  is  the  valve  apparatus  ? "  said 
Rollo. 

Then  his  father  pointed  to  some  compli- 
cated apparatus  which  stood  pretty  near  the 
cylinder.  The  parts  of  it  kept  moving  up 
and  down ;  first  one  part,  then  the  other. 
Rollo  looked  at  it  a  moment  with  a  perplexed 
expression  of  countenance.  He  despaired  of 
understanding  such  hopeless  intricacy.  His 
father  told  him  that  that  valve  apparatus 
was  to  let  the  steam  in  right,  into  the  cylin- 


84  THE    ENGINE. 

der,  first  under  the  piston  to  drive  it  up,  and 
then  above  the  piston  to  drive  it  down. 

"  And  where  does  the  steam  come  from  ?  " 
said  Rollo,  at  length,  after  a  long  pause. 

"It  comes  from  the  great  steam  pipe, 
which  conducts  it  from  the  boiler." 

"  Where  is  the  steam  pipe  ? "  asked  Rollo. 

"  His  father  pointed  to  a  large  pipe  or 
trunk,  which  came  up  from  below,  and 
branched  off  into  the  valve  apparatus,  to 
supply  it  with  steam. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  we  will  go  and  see  the 
fire  room." 

"  The  fire  room  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "where  they 
make  the  fire  under  the  boiler." 

They  accordingly  walked  along  the  pas- 
sage-way a  few  steps,  and  came  to  another 
door,  which  opened  into  the  fire  room.  Two 
men  were  there,  shovelling  coal  in  the 
mouths  of  a  great,  burning,  fiery  furnace. 
Above  the  furnace  was  the  end  of  the  boil- 
er, made  of  iron,  and  rivetted  with  mon- 
strous, round-headed  rivets.  There  were 
stop-cocks  and  pipes  here  and  there  in  the 
boiler,  and  the  steam  hissed  from  all  the 
joints. 


THE    ENGINE.  85 

"So  now,  Rollo."  said  his  father,  "you 
understand  something  about  the  steam  en- 
gine." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  You  see,"  continued  his  father,  "  that 
the  firemen  make  great  fires  under  the  bpiler. 
This  boils  the  water  very  fast.  The  steam 
expands  and  presses  with  prodigious  force, 
but  the  boiler  is  made  tight  and  strong  all 
around,  and  it  cannot  get  away." 

"  Except  through  the  steam  pipe,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  except  through 
the  steam  pipe.  It  crowds  through  this 
pipe,  and  the  valve  apparatus  admits  it  into 
the  cylinder  below  the  piston ;  so  it  crowds 
the  piston  up  with  great  force.  Then  the 
valve  apparatus  changes,  and  lets  the  steam 
in  above  the  piston,  and  so  it  crowds  it 
down.  The  piston  rod  works  the  beam,  and 
the  beam  works  the  pitman,  and  the  pitman 
turns  the  crank,  and  the  crank  carries  round 
the  main  shaft,  and  the  main  shaft  makes 
the  paddle  wheels  revolve,  and  they  make 
the  boat  go.  And  thus  it  is  that  the  hot 
steam,  expanding  and  pressing  with  great 
force  against  the  piston,  in  the  cylinder,  first 
S 


86  THE    ENGINE. 

above  and  then  below,  crowds  it  up  and 
down,  and  drives  the  boat  through  the 
water. 

Rollo  gazed  at  the  firemen.  They  looked 
pale  and  smutty,  and  the  fire  glared  upon 
their  countenances.  In  a  few  minutes  his 
father  said  he  must  go  and  settle  his  fare. 


87 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA 


About  an  hour  or  two  after  the  boat  left 
the  wharf,  Rollo  and  his  father  went  down 
into  the  cabin.  The  cabin  was  a  very  long 
room,  with  curtains  on  each  side. 

*  How  do  you  like  it,  Rollo  ?  "  said  Mr. 
Holiday. 

"  Pretty  well,  sir,"  said  Rollo  j  "  only  it  is 
rather  dark." 

"  They  cannot  have  many  windows  in  a 
sea-boat,"  said  his  father. 

"Why  not?"  asked  Rollo. 

"  Because,  perhaps,  the  sea  would  dash 
in." 

Behind  the  curtains,  at  the  sides  of  the 
cabin,  were  places  to  sleep  in.  Rollo's  father 
called  them  berths.  They  were  like  boxes, 
made  in  the  wall,  one  over  the  other,  with  a 
bed  in  each  one.  Rollo's  father  looked 
along,  examining  the  fronts  of  several  of 
them. 


ss 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA. 


*■*  What  are  you  looking  for,  father  ? "  said 
Rollo. 

"  To  find  my  berth  ;  it  is  No.  39." 

Rollo  helped  his  father  find  No.  39.  The 
numbers  were  printed  in  small  gilded  letters 
under  each  berth.  No.  39  was  one  of  the 
lower  berths,  pretty  well  aft.  Rollo's  father 
said  he  chose  it  there,  because  it  would  be 
more  away  from  the  noise  of  the  engine. 
After  they  had  found  No.  39,  Rollo  wanted 
to  know  where  his  berth  was. 

"  You  haven't  got  any  separate  berth," 
said  his  father  ;  "  and  I  am  going  to  let  you 
sleep  in  mine." 

"  But  why  don't  /  have  a  berth,  too  ? " 
asked  Rollo.  "  Don't  they  ever  give  them 
to  any  boys  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  boys  have  berths  in  this  steam- 
boat," replied  his  father,  "  unless  there  are 
men  enough  to  occupy  them  all ;  and  as  men 
pay  full  price,  and  boys  only  half  price,  it  is 
right  that  men  should  have  the  berths." 

"  Should  I  have  a  berth,  then,"  asked 
Rollo,  "  if  you  paid  full  price  for  me  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father ;  "  but  the  fare 
is  five  dollars  ;  and  half  of  it  is  how  much  ?  " 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA.  89 

ft  Two  dollars  and  a  half,"  answered 
Rollo. 

"  Yes.  So,  if  I  paid  full  fare  for  the  sake 
of  getting  you  a  berth,  I  should  pay  two 
dollars  and  a  half  for  a  place  to  sleep  in  for 
one  night  ;  which  is  a  great  deal  more  than 
it  would  be  wise  to  give  ;  for,  after  all,  the 
berths  are  hard  and  uncomfortable,  and  it  is 
about  as  easy  to  sleep  upon  this  seat." 

He  pointed,  as  he  said  this,  to  a  narrow 
seat,  handsomely  painted,  which  passed 
along  the  side  of  the  cabin,  just  before  the 
berths,  and  about  level  with  the  lower  tier. 
Rollo  thought  it  looked  like  rather  a  hard 
place  to  sleep  upon. 

"  I  can  spread  down  my  cloak,"  said  his 
father,  "  and  then  put  my  carpet  bag  at  the 
head  for  a  pillow ;  and  I  dare  say  I  shall  get 
along  very  well." 

"But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "J  ought  to 
sleep  upon  the  seat." 

"  Why,  no,"  replied  his  father ;  "  as  you  are 
not  accustomed  to  sleeping  on  board  a  steam- 
boat, and  I  am,  I  thought  I  would  let  you 
have  the  berth." 

"No,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  had  rather 
d*  8* 


90  A    NIGHT    AT    SEA. 

take  the  seat ;  boys  can  sleep  easier  than 
men,  you  know." 

His  father  acquiesced  in  this  arrangement, 
and  just  as  they  had  done  talking  about  it, 
two  colored  men  came  in  at  the  forward  end 
of  the  gentlemen's  cabin,  and  began  to  pull 
out  some  tables.  The  tables  were  what  they 
call  extension  tables.  They  looked,  when 
Rollo  and  his  father  came  into  the  cabin, 
like  square  tables,  standing  in  a  row,  at 
equal  distances  up  and  down  the  cabin.  The 
men  took  hold  of  opposite  ends  of  one  of  the 
tables,  and  pulled  it  open  ;  for  it  was  made 
so  that  the  frame  would  draw  out  a  long  dis- 
tance. They  then  covered  over  the  frame 
with  mahogany  boards,  which  were  all  ready, 
so  as  to  make  quite  a  long  table  of  what  was 
before  a  small,  square  one.  In  the  same 
manner  they  pulled  out  all  the  other  tables, 
and  joining  the  ends  together,  they  made  a 
very  long  table  indeed,  extending  all  up  and 
down  the  cabin. 

"  What  is  all  that  for  ?  "  asked  Rollo. 

"  That  is  the  table  for  supper,"  replied 
nis  father. 

Rollo  sat  and  watched  them  while  they  set 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA.  91 

the  supper-table.  His  father,  in  the  mean 
time,  took  a  newspaper  out  of  his  pocket, 
and  went  towards  the  stern  windows  for 
light,  and  began  to  read. 

Rollo  was  much  interested  in  the  process 
of  setting  the  table.  It  took  a  great  while. 
When  it  was  all  ready,  there  suddenly  ap- 
peared a  large  number  of  ladies,  coming 
down  a  flight  of  stairs,  near  where  his  father 
was  sitting.  The  stairs  led  from  the  ladies' 
cabin.     They  were  coming  down  to  supper. 

After  the  ladies  were  seated,  Rollo  heard 
a  bell  ringing  upon  deck,  and  immediately 
afterwards  crowds  of  men  came  down  the 
main  stairway,  and  seated  themselves  also  at 
the  table.  Rollo  and  his  father  joined  them, 
and  had  a  good  supper. 

They  rambled  about  the  boat  an  hour  or 
two  after  supper.  At  length  Rollo  began  to 
stagger  a  little,  when  walking  ;  and  once  he 
almost  tumbled  over  against  some  trunks. 
His  father  told  him  that  it  was  the  motion  of 
the  boat,  caused  by  the  swell  of  the  sea, 
which  made  him  stagger. 

"  Are  we  out  at  sea,  now  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father  ;  "  we  are  just  go- 
ing out,  I  suppose." 


92  A    NIGHT    AT    SEA. 

"  Let  us  go  and  see,"  said  Rollo. 

So  Rollo  and  his  father  went  up  on  the 
promenade  deck  again,  and  -Rollo  looked 
around.  It  was  now  evening,  bat  the  stars 
were  bright  in  the  sky,  and  he  could  see 
pretty  well.  The  boat  was  in  a  large  bay, 
standing  out  to  sea.  Rocky  shores  were 
dimly  visible  at  a  distance,  and  there  was  an 
island,  with  a  long,  sandy  beach  upon  the 
right  hand.  The  surface  of  the  water  was 
gently  roughened  by  the  evening  breeze, 
and.  a  large  brig  was  slowly  coming  on,  to 
meet  the  steamboat,  as  Rollo  thought,  in 
order  to  pass  between  them  and  the  island. 

".  There's  a  ship,  coming,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  said  his  father,  "  it  is  a  brig, 
going." 

"  Going  ?  "  said  Rollo.  "  No,  father,  it  is 
coming  this  way." 

"  It  appears  to  be  coming  this  way,  but 
that  is  because  we  are  going  so  much  faster 
than  she  is.  You  may  know  that  she  is 
going  the  same  way  that  we  are,  by  the 
direction  of  the  bows,  which  point  the  same 
way  with  ours  j  and  then  the  sails,  too,  are 
filled  from  this  side,  and  that  must  blow  her 
along  the  way  we  are  going." 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA.  93 

"  But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  the  wind  is 
blowing  this  way  ;  "  and  he  waved  his  hand 
back  towards  the  stern  of  the  steamboat,  to 
indicate  that  the  wind  was  blowing  against 
them. 

"It  seems  to  be,"  replied  his  father;  "but 
really  the  wind  is  blowing  the  other  way, 
only  we  go  so  much  faster,  than  this  little 
evening  breeze,  that  we  make  a  wind,  as 
they  say,  against  us." 

By  this  time  the  steamboat  had  come  up 
nearly  abreast  of  the  brig,  and  Rollo  per- 
ceived quite  a  ripple  of  water,  under  the  brig's 
bows,  which  proved,  beyond  doubt,  that  the 
brig  was  going  in  the  same  direction,  in  fact, 
though  the  appearance  that  the  motion  was 
the  other  way,  was  so  strong,  that  Rollo 
thought  his  reason  contradicted  his  eyes,  and 
he  hardly  knew  which  to  believe. 

Rollo  had  to  take  hold  of  a  round,  slender 
post,  to  keep  himself  steady,  when  the  boat 
rose  and  fell  over  the  great  swells  of  the  sea; 
and  as  the  motion  was  increasing,  his  father 
thought  that  they  had  better  both  go  to  bed. 

They  accordingly  went  from  the  prome- 
nade deck  down  to  the  main  deck,  and 
thence  along  the  passage-ways  to  the  stair- 


94 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA. 


case,  which  led  below  to  the  gentlemen's 
cabin.  Rollo's  father  pulled  his  carpet  bag 
out  from  among  the  baggage,  and  when  they 
had  got  down  to  their  berth,  he  pulled  out  his 
wrapper,  and  arranged  the  rest  of  the  things 
in  the  carpet  bag  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
as  soft  a  pillow  of  it  as  possible.  Rollo  in- 
sisted upon  sleeping  on  the  seat  himself,  and 
letting  his  father  have  the  berth.  His  father 
made  the  seat  as  comfortable  as  possible,  by 
spreading  down  his  surtout,  doubled  once  or 
twice,  for  a  bed,  and  his  carpet  bag  for  a  pil- 
low, and  he  took  one  of  the  blankets  from 
the  berth,  to  cover  him  up  with. 

After  they  were  both  fairly  fixed  in  their 
quarters  for  the  night,  Mr.  Holiday  asked 
Rollo  how  he  liked  his  place. 

"Pretty  well,  sir;  —  I  like  it  very  well, 
only  the  carpet  bag  feels  rather  prickly." 

"  So  it  is,"  said  his  father,  putting  his 
hand  out  to  feel  of  the  carpet  bag.  "  It  is 
rather  rough  for  your  cheek  to  lie  upon. 
However,  I  will  remedy  that  difficulty." 

He  accordingly  reached  out  to  his  dressing- 
box,  which  he  had  put  upon  a  little  shelf  at 
the  lower  end  of  his  berth,  before  he  went 
to  bed,  arid  took  out  of  it  a  large  silk  hand- 


A    NIGHT    AT    SEA.  95 

kerchief,  neatly  folded.  Rollo  lifted  up  his 
head,  and  his  father  spread  the  handkerchief 
over  the  carpet  bag,  and  then  Rollo  laid  his 
head  down  again. 

"  There,"  said  he,  with  a  tone  of  satisfac- 
tion, "  that  will  do  finely.  It  feels  very  soft 
and  smooth. 

"  Now,  father,"  he  continued,  "  if  you 
would  just  be  so  good  as  to  tell  me  a  story, 
just  while  I  am  going  to  sleep." 

"  Can't  you  go  to  sleep  without  a  story  ? " 
said  his  father. 

"No,  sir,  because  there  is  such  a  loud 
noise." 

"  What  noise  do  you  mean?"  replied  his 
father. 

The  reason  why  Rollo's  father  did  not 
know  what  noise  he  meant,  was  because 
there  were,  a  great  many  men  all  about  the 
cabin,  some  talking  and  laughing,  some  read- 
ing and  writing  at  tables,  and  some  getting 
into  the  berths,  which  ranged  up  and  down 
the  sides  of  the  cabin.  Besides  this,  the  en- 
gine made  a  noise,  and  the  whole  boat  trem- 
bled from  the  rapid  strokes  of  the  paddles 
upon  the  water,  as  the  wheels  revolved. 


96  A    NIGHT    AT    SEA. 

"  That  thumping  and  rumbling  noise," 
said  Rollo. 

"  That  is  the  engine,"  replied  his  father, 
"  and  the  concussion  of  the  paddles  upon 
the  water." 

"  It  goes  a  great  deal  louder  than  it  did 
before  we  went  to  bed,"  said  Rollo.  "  I 
suppose  we  are  going  very  fast  now." 

"No,  it  is  not  really  any  louder,"  replied 
his  father,  "  only  it  seems  louder  to  you, 
because  your  head  is  upon  the  pillow,  and 
that  conducts  the  sound  to  your  ear." 

"  Upon  the  carpet  bag,  you  mean,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  that  is  your 
pillow  just  now." 

"Well,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "couldn't  you 
tell  me  a  little  story  ?  " 

"  Not  very  well,  just  now,  for  I  want  to 
go  to  sleep ;  but  I  can  give  you  a  little 
advice." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  "  advice  will  do." 

His  father  then  began  to  give  Rollo  some 
good  advice,  and  he  talked  with  him  for 
some  time.  Their  heads  were  very  near 
together,  Rollo 's  on  the  carpet  bag,  and  his 


A    NIG  [IT    AT    SEA.  97 

father's  in  the  berth.  So  they  talked  in  a 
low  tone  of  voice,  and  nobody  else  could 
hear.  Rollo  himself  found  it  very  difficult 
to  get  asleep,  he  was  so  much  disturbed  by 
the  many  voices  in  the  cabin,  and  by  the 
noise  of  the  engine,  which  seemed  to  him  to 
grow  louder  and  louder.  At  length,  how- 
ever, he  fell  asleep 
e  <* 


98 


FOG. 


A  good  many  hours  passed  away,  during 
which  Rollo  was  entirely  unconscious  of 
every  thing  which  took  place  around  him. 
At  last,  however,  he  was  awakened  by  some 
strange  sensation.  He  lifted  his  head  up 
from  the  carpet  bag,  and  looked  around. 
The  cabin  was  nearly  empty.  Clothes  were 
lying  about  upon  the  seats,  and  near  the 
curtains  of  the  berths.  There  were  one  or 
two  tables,  which  had  solitary  lamps  burn- 
ing upon  them,  and  at  one,  a  man  was  seat- 
ed, leaning  his  forehead  upon  his  arms,  which 
were  folded  upon  the  table. 

Rollo  looked  around  and  listened.  He 
observed  that  the  heavy  thumping  and  rum- 
bling of  the  engine  had  ceased,  and  the 
steamboat  seemed  to  be  gliding  smoothly 
through  the  water.  He  could,  in  fact,  hear 
the  washing  of  the  water  against  the  sides 
of  the  boat,  where  his  father's  berth  came. 

Rollo  could  not  think  what  could  be  the 


FOG.  99 

matter.  Just  at  that  moment,  his  father 
pushed  away  the  little  white  curtain  of  his 
berth,  and  looked  out  upon  Rollo. 

"  Rollo,"  said  he,  "  are  you  awake  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "what  is  the 
matter  ? " 

"  The  engine  has  stopped." 

"What  for?"   asked  Rollo. 

"  I  don't  know  j  there  is  some  difficulty, 
probably.  Perhaps  something  is  out  of 
order." 

11  Well,  father,  hadn't  we  better  go  and 
see  what  is  the  matter?  " 

"  No,"  replied  his  father  •  "  I  think  not. 
We  cannot  do  any  good,  and  our  wisest 
course  is  to  lie  quiet,  and  try  to  go  to  sleep 
again." 

"  But,  father,  perhaps  the  boiler  has 
burst,"  said  Rollo. 

"  No,"  replied  his  father,  "  for  then  we 
should  have  heard  the  report." 

"  Perhaps  the  vessel  has  sprung  aleak," 
added  Rollo. 

"  They  would  come  and  tell  us,  if  any 
thing  had  taken  place,  which  it  is  important 
for  us  to  know." 

While  Rollo  and  his  father  had  been  talk- 


100  FOG. 

ing  thus,  there  had  "been  a  movement  m 
several  of  the  berths,  and  one  or  two  men 
had  got  up  and  gone  upon  deck.  Just  as 
Rollo's  father  had  answered  Rollo's  last 
suggestion,  a  man  came  down  the  stairway, 
only  partly  dressed,  but  with  his  cloak  over 
his  shoulders,  and  slippers  upon  his  feet.  As 
he  came  down,  a  head  and  a  pair  of  shoul- 
ders appeared  between  the  curtains  of  a 
berth,  near  the  bottom  of  the  stairs. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  sir?  "  said  the  man 
in  the  berth. 

"  Fog,"  replied  the  other.  "  We  have 
stopped  to  sound." 

Rollo  did  not  understand  what  was  meant 
by  stopping  to  sound.  He  had  heard  of 
bells  being  rung,  as  a  signal  to  vessels  in 
fogs,  and  he  thought  it  probable  that  the 
steamboat  had  stopped  to  ring  a  bell,  to  warn 
other  vessels  which  might  be  in  the  way, 
that  the  steamboat  was  coming.  He  accord- 
ingly listened,  expecting  every  moment  to 
hear  the  bell  ring. 

He  peeped  between  his  father's  curtains, 
but  he  thought  he  seemed  to  be  asleep,  and 
he  would  not  disturb  him.  So  he  lay  still, 
listening  and  waiting  for  the  bell,  but  it  did 


FOG.  101 

not  ring,  and  he  gradually  fell  asleep  again 
himself.    " 

He  had,  however,  scarcely  commenced  his 
dreams,  before  he  was  suddenly  awakened 
again.  He  started  up.  The  thump  and 
rumble  of  the  ponderous  engine  had  com- 
menced, and  it  was  that  that  awaked  him. 

"  Ah,  we  are  going  again,"  said  Rollo  to 
himself. 

At  the  same  moment  he  saw  his  father 
looking  out  again,  between  the  curtains. 

"  Rollo,"  said  he. 

"  What,  father,"  replied  Rollo. 

"  We  are  going  again." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I  had  just  get 
asleep,  and  the  engine  has  waked  me  up." 

"  So  had  I,"  replied  his  father  ;  "  but,  now 
we  are  going  again,  we  will  go  to  sleep,  and 
try  to  sleep  till  morning." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  replied  Rollo,   "  we  will." 

So  Rollo  and  his  father  went  to  sleep 
again. 

It  was  not  long,   however,   before  Rollo 

was   again   disturbed.      He    looked   around 

again,  and  listened,  and  he  observed  that  the 

engine  had  stopped  once  more ;  and  that  the 

9* 


102  FOG. 

sudden  cessation  of  the  noise  had  awakened 
him. 

"  This  is  very  strange,"  thought  he. 
"  The  engine  wakes  me  when  it  stops,  and 
it  wakes  me  when  it  sets  agoing.  I  wonder 
why  I  don't  sleep  sounder  when  it  gets  still." 

Pretty  soon  the  engine  was  started  again, 
and  then  Rollo  once  more  went  to  sleep. 
This  time  he  slept  two  hours,  for  during  all 
this  time  the  engine  kept  steadily  agoing. 
At  length,  however,  it  suddenly  ceased  ;  and 
the  boat  glided  smoothly  through  the  water. 
Rollo  aroused  himself  again,  and  looked  to- 
wards the  staircase.  The  lamps  burned 
dimly,  and  a  "faint  gray  light  was  shining 
down  the  stairway.  Rollo  thought  it  was 
beginning  to  be  morning. 

He  lay  still,  however,  being  unwilling  to 
disturb  his  father  ;  but  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore his  father  awoke,  and  then  Rollo  wanted 
to  get  up.  His  father  gave  him  permission, 
and  he  dressed  himself  and  went  up  upon 
deck.  He  was  careful  not  to  go  to  any 
places  where  he  did  not  see  that  people 
were  accustomed  to  go.  There  were  some 
other  parts  of  the  deck  which  he  wanted  to 


1 


FOG.  103 

walk  upon,  where  it  seemed  to  him  perfectly 
safe  ;  but  he  did  not  see  other  persons  there, 
and  so  he  did  not  know  but  that  there  might 
be  some  hidden  danger. 

He  found  that  there  was  a  very  thick  fog. 
He  could  see  the  water  a  little  way  around 
the  vessel,  and  that  was  all.  The  air  was 
still,  and  the  water,  at  least  the  little  of  it 
that  he  could  see,  was  smooth,  and  the 
steamboat  was  moving  on  through  it  much 
more  slowly  than  it  had  done  the  night  be- 
fore. 

There  were  several  men  standing  or  walk- 
ing about  the  decks.  Some  looked  pale, 
and  some  looked  sleepy.  As  Rollo  stood 
trying  to  look  over  the  water,  he  heard  one 
of  them  say  to  another, 

"  There,  they  are  getting  ready  to  sound ; 
let  us  go  and  see." 

Just  then  he  heard  a  little  bell.  Immedi- 
ately the  engine  stopped.  The  steamboat 
glided  more  and  more  slowly  through  the 
water,  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  almost  ceased 
to  move. 

Rollo  looked  around  in  the  direction  where 
the  men  went,  and  he  saw  two  or  three  men 
standing  near  the  bows  of  the  boat.     One  of 


104  FOG. 

them  had  a  heavy  piece  of  lead  in  his  hand. 
There  was  a  long  line  fastened  to  it.  This 
line  passed  along  over  the  wheel-house,  and 
a  man  near  the  stern  of  the  vessel  had  hold 
of  it  there.  Only  he  did  not  have  hold  of 
the  end  of  the  line,  as  Rollo  saw  that  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  loose  line  lying  upon  the 
deck. 

"  All  clear,  there  ?  "  called  out  the  man 
with  the  lead,  in  a  loud  voice. 

"  All  clear,"  answered  the  man  at  the 
line. 

The  man  who  had  the  lead  then  hove  it 
out  as  far  as  he  could,  into  the  water.  It  fell 
in  with  a  heavy  plash,  and  as  the  steam- 
boat was  still  moving  slowly  along,  it  soon 
brought  the  place  where  the  lead  went  into 
the  water,  opposite  the  man  who  held  the 
line. 

As  the  lead  sank  down  into  the  water,  it 
drew  the  line  out  through  the  man's  hands, 
gradually  taking  up  the  slack  of  the  line 
which  was  lying  upon  the  deck.  At  length 
the  lead  reached  the  bottom.  The  man  per- 
ceived it  at  once,  by  its  ceasing  to  draw  the 
line  through  his  hand.  He  then  pulled  up 
the  line  again,  and  observed  how  many  di- 


FOG.  105 

visions  of  it  it  had  taken  to  reach  the  bot- 
tom. He  found  that  the  water  was  ten 
fathoms  deep. 

"  Ten"  he  said  in  a  loud  voice,  calling 
to  the  captain. 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  captain,  turning  to 
the  pilot  i  u  then  we  can  stand  on  for  half 
an  hour  longer." 

The  pilot,  hearing  this,  went  into  a  little 
round  room,  near  the  bows  of  the  vessel, 
which  had  large  glass  windows  all  around 
the  front  side,  where  he  was  accustomed  to 
stand  when  he  was  steering.  There  was  a 
curious-looking  wheel  in  it,  with  handles  all 
around  the  circumference,  and  there  was  a 
rope  passing  two  or  three  times  round  the 
axle  of  the  wheel.  The  ends  of  this  rope 
passed  along  the  sides  of  the  vessel  to  the 
stern,  and  were  there  fastened  to  the  rudder, 
so  that,  by  turning  the  wheel  one  way  or 
another,  the  rudder  could  be  managed,  and 
the  boat  steered.  This  little  house,  or  room, 
was  made  to  shut  up  close,  so  as  to  defend 
the  pilot  from  the  cold  and  bleak  winds,  and 
the  rain ;  and  it  was  placed  in  an  elevated 
situation,  and  had  a  front  of  glass,  in  order 


106  FOG. 

that  the  pilot  might  see  all  that  was  before 
him. 

When  the  pilot  got  into  this  place,  he 
pulled  a  little  handle,  and  Rollo  then  heard 
the  sound  of  a  little  bell  again.  Immediately 
the  engine  gave  out  a  heavy  groan,  and 
struggled  on.  Rollo  thought  it  did  not  like 
to  go  to  work  again  very  well. 

Out  on  the  end  of  the  bowsprit  Rollo  ob- 
served a  man,  half  sitting,  half  lying,  and 
holding  on  by  the  ropes. 

"  He'll  fall,"  said  Rollo,  speaking  to  him- 
self, as  he  stood  near  the  pilot's  house. 

"  No,  he  will  not  fall,"  answered  a  voice 
near  him. 

Rollo  looked  around,  and  saw  his  father 
standing  by  his  side. 

"  Why,  father,"  said  he,  "  have  you  got 
up?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father.  "  How  do  we 
get  along  ? " 

"  O,  pretty  well,"  said  Rollo  ;  "  we  have 
been  sounding,  and  the  water  is  ten  fathoms 
deep ;  and  we  are  going  to  stand  on  for  half 
an  hour.    How  much  is  a  fathom,  father ? " 

"  Six  feet." 


FOG.  107 

"  Six.  Ten  times  six  is  sixty.  Then  it 
is  sixty  feet  deep.  And  what  did  the  cap- 
tain mean  by  standing  onV 

"  Why,  going  along,  on  our  way,  towards 
the  shore." 

"Well,  father,"  continued  Rollo,  "what 
is  that  man  out  on  the  bowsprit  for  ?  He  has 
been  there  a  great  while." 

"  He  is  the  lookout,  I  suppose,"  said  his 
father.  "  He  is  watching  ahead,  to  get  the 
first  glimpse  of  any  thing  which  might  be 
approaching  in  the  fog." 

"  But,  father,  they  know  that  they  are  a 
good  way  from  the  shore,  because  the  water 
is  so  deep." 

"  Yes,  but  we  might  come  across  a  ves- 
sel." 

Rollo  and  his  father  talked  together  a  little 
while,  and  then  they  went  and  found  a  com- 
fortable place  among  the  trunks  and  carpet 
bags,  upon  one  side  of  the  ladies'  cabin,  and 
sat  down.  They  wrapped  themselves  up  in 
a  eloak,  for  the  morning  was  cool. 

They  had  hardly  got  established,  before 
the  man  who  had  held  the  line  when  they 
sounded  before,  came  with  it  again,  and  took 
a  position  just  opposite  to  them.    In  a  minute 


108  FOG. 

the  boat  stopped  again,  and  the  lead  was 
thrown.  Rollo  wanted  to  get  up  and  see, 
but  his  father  told  him  that,  as  they  were  so 
comfortably  established,  they  had  better  keep 
still,  under  the  cloak. 

The  man  let  the  line  run  out,  until  the 
lead  struck  the  bottom,  and  then  he  drew  it 
up  again.     He  called  out,  Seven. 

"  Seven  fathoms,"  said  Rollo.  "  Now  it 
isn't  so  deep  ;  we  are  getting  near  the 
shore." 

"  How  much  longer  can  you  stand  in  ?  " 
said  Rollo's  father,  addressing  the  man  with 
the  line,  who  was  then  coiling  it  up. 

"  Not  very  long ;  — perhaps  half  an  hour." 

The  man  went  away  with  his  lead  and 
line,  and  Rollo  asked  his  father  how  long  it 
would  be  before  breakfast. 

His  father  thought  it  would  be  more  than 
an  hour. 

"  Then,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "I  wish  you 
would  tell  me  a  story  now  :  you  know  you 
could  not  tell  me  one  last  night." 

"  Well,"  said  his  father,  "  I  will.  I  will 
tell  you  the  story  of  Moses  and  his  ship." 


109 


THE  STORY   OF   MOSES  AND  HIS   SHIP. 

One  day,  just  before  Moses  was  going  to 
school,  he  saw  a  boy,  a  good  deal  smaller 
than  he  was,  coming  along  the  road,  with 
something  which  looked  white  in  his  hand. 
He  stopped  at  the  gate  of  his  father's  house, 
and  saw  that  it  was  one  of  his  playmates, 
named  John.  He  watched  him  as  he  walked 
along,  and  when  he  came  up,  he  saw  that 
the  white  thing  he  held  in  his  hand  was  a 
little  vessel.  His  father  had  made  it  for  him. 
It  was  made  of  a  thin,  flat  piece  of  board, 
and  had  an  upright  stick  for  a  mast,  and  upon 
the  mast  was  fastened  a  handsome,  paper 
sail.     It  was  this  which  looked  so  white. 

When  Moses  saw  this  vessel,  he  wished  it 
was  his,  and  he  asked  John  to  give  it  to  him ; 
but  John  would  not.  After  talking  about  it 
a  little  while,  he  told  John  he  would  give 
him  some  powder,  if  he  would  give  it  to 
him.  John  had  seen  gunpowder  flash,  when 
10 


110  MOSES  AND  HIS  SHIP. 

dropped  into  the  fire,  and  he  thought  that  he 
should  like  to  have  some  to  play  with. 

But  John  did  not  feel  easy.  His  conscience 
warned  him  that  it  would  be  wrong  to  take 
the  gunpowder.  He  knew  that  his  father 
would  not  like  to  have  him  play  with  so  dan- 
gerous a  thing.  Conscience  warned  him  not 
to  do  it,  but  he  did  not  regard  her.  After 
hesitating  a  little,  he  said  he  would. 

Before  this,  when  he  was  walking  along 
the  street,  with  his  little  vessel  in  his  hand, 
he  felt  happy,  because  he  was  doing  right. 
Now  he  began  to  feel  uneasy  and  unhappy, 
because  he  was  going  to  do  wrong. 

Moses  took  the  little  vessel  and  went  into 
the  house  to  put  it  away,  and  to  get  his  pow- 
der. He,  too,  felt  guilty  and  unhappy,  for 
he  had  no  powder  to  give  to  John,  and  his 
plan  was  to  get  the  vessel  dishonestly.  He 
carried  it  into  the  house,  and  hid  it  behind  a 
barrel  in  a  back  room,  feeling  guilty  and 
dshamed  all  the  time.  There  was  a  feeling 
in  his  heart  that  told  him  he  was  going  to  do 
something  very  wrong,  and  warned  him  not 
to  do  it.     But  he  did  not  heed  the  warning. 

He  went  into  the  parlor,  opened  his  father's 
secretary,    took   down    the    sand-box,  .  and 


MOSES    AND    HIS    SHIP.  Ill 

poured  out  some  of  the  black  sand  into  a  lit- 
tle paper,  and  then  folded  up  the  paper,  put 
back  the  box,  and  shut  the  secretary  again. 

All  the  time  that  he  was  doing  this  he  felt 
guilty  and  unhappy.  Conscience  was  re- 
monstrating with  him.  He  felt  that  he  was 
guilty  of  a  great  sin,  in  thus  taking  what  be- 
longed to  his  father  without  leave,  and  also 
of  another,  in  defrauding  his  playmate.  Still 
he  went  on. 

He  went  out  to  the  gate,  and  found  John 
there ;  and  he  gave  him  the  paper  of  sand. 
He  hoped  that  John  would  put  it  directly 
into  his  pocket,  and  go  away,  without  asking 
him  any  questions.  But  John  slowly  and 
carefully  opened  the  paper. 

He  looked  at  the  black  sand  a  minute,  and 
then  he  said,  "  Is  that  powder?  —  I  did  not 
know  it  looked  like  that."  "  Yes,"  said 
Moses,  faintly. 

The  reason  why  John  did  not  know  that 
it  was  not  powder,  was  partly  because  he 
was  a  little  boy,  and  did  not  know  exactly 
how  powder  ought  to  look,  and  partly  be- 
cause he  felt  guilty  and  uneasy  himself ;  and 
so,  his  mind  being  somewhat  disturbed,  he 
could  not  think  so  well  about  the  powder. 


112         MOSES  AND  HIS  SHIP. 

John  then  folded  up  the  sand,  and  put  il 
into  his  pocket,  and  both  the  boys  walked 
along  to  school.  But  their  peace  and  hap- 
piness were  gone.  They  felt  guilty,  and 
anxious,  and  afraid ;  —  guilty,  because  they 
both  knew  that  they  had  done  very  wrong ; 
anxious,  because  they  could  not  drive  the 
thoughts  of  their  guilt  from  their  minds ; 
and  afraid,  because  they  thought  that  some- 
thing would  take  place  which  would  expose 
them. 

All  that  day  John  found  that  having  the 
powder,  which  he  had  expected  would  have 
been  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to  him,  was, 
in  reality,  a  source  of  great  uneasiness  and 
pain.  His  thoughts  would  keep  going  all 
the  time  towards  the  pocket  where  he  kept 
it,  and  he  suffered  more  than  would  be  paid 
for  by  seeing  the  most  splendid  fireworks 
which  were  ever  made. 

When  he  went  home  that  night,  he  felt 
worse,  rather  than  better.  As  he  sat  down 
by  the  fire,  in  the  evening,  after  tea,  with  his 
father  and  mother,  he  felt  more  guilty  and 
more  anxious  than  ever.  Conscience  re- 
proved him  more  and  more.  He  was  afraid 
too.     He  could  not  help  thinking  that  his 


MOSES  AND  HIS  SHIP.  113 

powder  might,  by  some  accident,  get  on  fire 
while  it  was  in  his  pocket ;  and  he  was  very 
sorry  indeed  that  he  had  ever  touched  it. 

He  became  so  uneasy  and  unhappy  at  last, 
that  he  determined  not  to  keep  his  powder 
any  longer.  What  he  ought  to  have  done 
was  to  carry  it  at  once  to  his  father,  and 
confess  his  fault,  and  ask  his  father  to  for- 
give him  :  then  he  would  have  been  happy 
again. 

Instead  of  this,  however,  he  determined 
to  go  and  throw  the  powder  away.  So  he 
left  the  room  went  out  to  the  back  door, 
took  the  paper  out  of  his  pocket,  and  threw  it 
away.  He  listened  and  heard  it  fall  down 
in  a  corner  of  the  yard,  among  some  bashes 
which  were  growing  there.  He  came  back 
into  the  house,  relieved  a  little,  and  thinking 
that  he  had  now  got  rid  of  his  trouble,  and 
that  he  never  would  try  again  to  make  him- 
self happy  by  taking  what  he  knew  his 
father  did  not  wish  him  to  have. 

But  John  soon  found  that  he  was  not 
much  relieved  by  throwing  the  powder 
away.  He  was  unhappy  still  ;  and  that 
night,  when  he  went  to  bed,  he  could  not  go 
to  sleep.  Conscience  reproved  him  more 
e*  10* 


114  MOSES  AND  HIS  SHIP. 

and  more  loudly,  in  the  stillness  and  darkness 
of  the  night.  He  was  afraid  too.  Some- 
times he  imagined  that  his  powder  would 
take  fire  there  in  the  yard,  and  burn  the 
house  down.  The  wall  looked  light  a  little 
over  his  head,  and  he  thought  there  must  be 
something  on  fire  in  the  yard  to  shine  upon 
it.  At  last  he  covered  his  head  up  with  the 
bed-clothes,  partly  to  keep  himself  from  see- 
ing the  light,  and  partly  because  he  was 
afraid  of  something  else,  though  he  did  not 
know  what. 

At  last  he  got  to  sleep ;  but  he  was,  even 
in  his  sleep,  restless  and  unhappy.  He 
dreamed  that  the  house  was  on  fire,  and  that 
there  was  gunpowder  in  it,  and  that  he 
should  be  blown  up.  Then  he  waked  in 
great  distress,  and  stared  about  wildly. 
Doing  wrong  very  often  makes  children 
have  dreadful  dreams.     Yes,  and  men  too. 

About  midnight  John  waked  up  again, 
and  when  he  thought  of  his  sin  and  all  the 
unhappiness  it  had  caused  him,  he  began  to 
cry,  though  he  did  not  cry  loud.  He  wished 
that  he  had  confessed  his  fault  to  his  father 
before  he  came  to  bed,  and  he  determined  to 
do  it  tne  first  thing  in  the  morning. 


MOSES    AND    HIS    SHIP.  115 

Now,  it  happened  that  just  at  this  time 
John's  father,  who  slept  in  the  same  room, 
was  awake  ;  and,  listening  a  few  minutes,  he 
could  hear  John  moving  a  little  in  his  bed, 
as  if  he  was  awake  too.     So  his  father  said, 

"John." 

And  John  said, 

"What,  sir." 

His  father  perceived,  when  he  spoke,  that 
he  was  weeping.  So  he  kindly  asked  him 
what  was  the  matter. 

John  tried  to  answer,  but  he  could  not 
speak.     He  sobbed  aloud. 

Then  John's  father  pitied  him  very  much, 
for  he  knew  that  he  had  done  something 
wrong,  and  was  unhappy  on  that  account. 
He  always  treated  his  little  boy  kindly,  even 
when  he  had  been  guilty  of  some  fault ;  and 
now  he  asked  him,  in  a  gentle  and  soothing 
tone,  to  come  to  his  father's  bed-side  ;  and 
then  he  put  his  arm  round  his  neck,  as  he 
stood,  and  kindly  asked  him  what  was  the 
matter.  So  John  told  him  fully  all  that  he 
had  done. 

"  Well,"  said  his  father,  "I  am  very  glad 
you  have  told  me.  You  could  not  have 
been  happy  again  without  it.     Perhaps  you 


116  MOSES    AND    HIS    SHIP. 

thought,  at  the  time  you  took  the  powder, 
that  it  was  not  very  wrong,  for  I  had  not 
positively  forbidden  it.  But  it  was  very 
wrong  ;  for  although  I  had  not  positively 
forbidden  it,  you  supposed  that  I  should  not 
approve  of  it  j  and  it  is  in  fact  disobedience 
for  children  to  do  any  thing  which  they 
think  their  parents  do  not  wish  them  to  do. 
That  is  what  made  you  unhappy.  It  was 
conscience  reproving  you  for  doing  what 
you  knew  was  wrong. 

lt  But  now,  if  you  are  sincerely  sorry,  I 
forgive  you,  and  God  will  forgive  you,  and 
you  may  go  back  to  your  bed,  and  forget  it 
all,  and  go  to  sleep.  You  need  not  be 
afraid  about  the  powder.  I  will  take  care 
of  it  in  the  morning,  and  you  need  not  think 
about  it  any  more." 

So  John  went  back  to  his  bed  with  a 
light  heart,  and  lay  down  again.  His 
father  observed  that  he  was  still,  and  a  few 
minutes  afterwards,  he  rose  up  a  little,  and 
looked  down  to  the  trundle-bed  where  John 
was  lying,  to  see  whether  he  was  asleep. 
The  moon  shone  into  the  room  a  little,  and 
he  could  see  that  John  was  lying  with  his 
hand  under  his  head  upon  the  pillow,  his 


MOSES  AND  HIS  SHIP.         117 

cheek  resting  upon  his  hand.  His  eyes 
were  shut,  and  he  breathed  regularly.  His 
father  saw  that  he  was  asleep,  and  his  coun- 
tenance was  quiet  and  peaceful,  showing 
that  he  was  not  disturbed  by  any  more 
frightful  dreams. 

Now,  we  must  go  back  to  Moses,  and  see 
what  became  of  him.  When  he  came  home 
from  school  that  afternoon,  he  went  on  fast, 
to  avoid  walking  home  with  John.  The 
sight  of  John  made  him  feel  guilty  and 
ashamed.  He  went  home  quick  too,  in 
order  to  get  his  vessel,  and  carry  it  down 
behind  his  father's  house,  to  a  little  brook 
there,  and  see  it  sail.  He  thought  he  should 
have  a  fine  time.  Poor  boy  !  How  he  was 
deceived !  A  boy  cannot  be  happy  in  sailing 
the  handsomest  little  vessel  that  ever  was 
made,  if  his  conscience  is  disturbed,  and  is 
reproaching  him  with  his  guilt. 

When  Moses  got  home,  he  went  and 
brought  out  his  vessel  from  its  hiding-place, 
and  walked  with  it,  alone,  through  the 
garden.  But  something  within  him  seemed 
to  say,  "  This  is  not  your  vessel.  You 
have  no  right  to  it.  You  have  been  dis- 
honest and  wicked.  Carry  it  back.  Carry 
it  back." 


I  IS  MOSES    AND    HIS    SHIP. 

Still,  however,  he  went  on,  though  the 
farther  he  went,  the  more  uneasy  and 
wretched  he  became  ;  until,  at  last,  he  was 
on  the  point  of  giving  up  the  sail,  and  going 
back.  But  just  then  he  saw  the  smooth 
water  of  the  brook  before  him,  among  the 
trees,  and  he  thought  the  little  vessel  would 
glide  over  it  so  beautifully,  that  he  forced 
himself  on. 

He  took  no  pleasure  in  the  sail.  He  felt 
guilty  when  he  went  down  to  the  brink  ; 
he  felt  guilty  when  he  stooped  down  and 
placed  the  vessel  on  the  water,  and  he  felt 
guilty  when  he  saw  it  floating  along  slowly 
from  the  shore.  He  felt  guilty  and  miser- 
able, and  he  wished  again  and  again  that  he 
had  never  seen  the  little  vessel.  Still  he 
thought  that,  now  it  was  there,  he  might  as 
well  see  it  sail ;  so  he  took  up  a  long  stick 
and  pushed  it  away. 

It  gave  him  so  little  pleasure  that  he 
determined  to  give  it  up  altogether ;  but  still 
he  would  not  do  what  he  ought  to  have 
done,  which  was  to  take  the  boat,  carry  it 
back  to  John,  and  confess  his  fraud.  He 
could  not  bear  to  do  this ;  and  yet  he  found 
that  keeping  the  boat  himself  would  give 


MOSES    AND    HIS    SHIP.  121 

only  pain,  and  so  he  concluded  to  abandon 
it, — that  is,  to  leave  it  to  sail  off  down  the 
stream,  and  be  lost.  He  stood  on  the  bank 
watching  it  as  it  slowly  sailed  away  ;  con- 
science all  the  time  reproving  him,  and  say- 
ing, "  It  is  wrong  for  you  to  let  it  sail  away. 
It  is  not  your  vessel  ;  you  have  no  right  to 
it ;  and  you  have  no  right  to  let  it  sail  away 
and  be  lost." 

Still  he  did  not  heed  conscience.  He 
saw  John's  vessel  sail  slowly  down  until  it 
became  entangled  among  the  rushes,  far 
down  the  stream  ;  and  then  he  turned  away, 
and  went  slowly  home. 

But  though  the  vessel  was  out  of  sight, 
the  thoughts  of  it  he  could  not  get  out  of  his 
mind.  He  tried  to  think  of  something  else, 
but  the  recollection  of  his  guilt  would  force 
itself  upon  him.  That  night,  when  he  went 
to  bed  and  shut  his  eyes,  it  seemed  as  if  he 
could  still  see  the  little  vessel  lying  deserted 
among  the  flags  and  rushes ;  and  little  John, 
too,  seemed  to  stand  before  him,  looking  just 
as  he  did  when  he  took  the  black  sand,  and 
asked  him  if  it  was  really  powder.  It  was 
a  long  time  before  he  could  go  to  sleep  ;  and 
then  he  had  frightful  dreams. 
/  11      ' 


122  MOSES    AN1*    HIS    SHIP. 

The  next  day,  too,  he  was  ashamed  to 
meet  or  to  see  John.  Conscience  reproached 
him  continually  with  his  fault,  and  made 
him  miserable.  He  knew  that  he  ought  to 
go  and  get  the  vessel ;  and  bring  it  back  to 
the  rightful  owner,  and  he  ought  to  confess 
his  dishonesty  and  falsehood ;  but  he  would 
not.  He  was  too  proud  to  do  it.  So  he 
went  on  day  after  day,  feeling  guilty  and 
miserable. 

And  now,  Rollo,  for  the  moral  of  the 
story.  Never  do  what  you  know  is  wrong. 
You  will  gain  no  enjoyment  by  it,  which  will 
repay  you  for  the  sufferings  of  self-reproach, 
and  the  loss  of  peace  of  mind.  God  has 
given  you  your  conscience,  and  you  ought 
always  to  obey  its  voice  ;  and  if  you 
should  do  wrong,  immediately  go  and  con- 
fess it,  and  resolve  to  do  so  no  more. 


123 


AN    EXPEDITION. 

Just  as  Hollo's  father  had  finished  his 
story,  the  engine  stopped,  and  immediately 
afterwards  two  or  three  rough-looking  meny 
with  tarpaulin  hats,  came  along  to  the  part 
of  the  boat  where  he  and  Rollo  were  sitting, 
and  began  to  do  something  about  the  great 
boat  which  Rollo  had  observed,  when  he 
first  came  on  board,  hanging  in  chains  by 
the  side  of  the  ladies'  cabin.  It  seemed 
very  large  to  Rollo,  though  in  fact  it  was 
not  very  large.  The  chains  were  suspended 
from  great  iron  cranes,  rough  and  rusty,  and 
the  men  contrived  to  heave  round  the  cranes, 
and  so  swing  the  boat  over  the  side  of  the 
steamboat ;  and  then  they  let  it  down  into 
the  water.  One  of  the  men  was  in  the  boat 
when  they  let  it  down. 

"  What  are  they  going  to  do  ? "  said 
Rollo. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  his  father;  "we 
shall  see." 


124  AN    EXPEDITION. 

Rollo  and  his  father  were  pretty  near  the 
men  and  the  boat,  but  the  rattling  of  the 
ropes  in  the  pulleys,  and  the  sound  of  the 
voices  of  the  various  passengers  about  the 
decks,  prevented  any  one  from  hearing  their 
conversation. 

11  Couldn't  you  ask  them  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

'f  I  might,  but  thev  are  busy,  and  it  dis- 
turbs seamen  to  have  the  passengers  continu- 
ally asking  them  questions.  We  had  better 
observe  for  ourselves. " 

In  the  mean  time  a  young  man,  well 
dressed,  and  with  an  intelligent  expression 
of  countenance,  came  along,  with  a  curious 
looking  instrument  in  his  hand.  It  looked 
like  a  round  box  with  a  glass  top.  The  men, 
who  had  let  down  the  boat,  climbed  down 
and  got  into  it.  Rollo  was  afraid  that  they 
would  fall  into  the  water,  but  they  did  not. 

"  Sometimes,"  said  Rollo's  father,  "  they 
let  down  the  boat  in  order  to  send  a  passen- 
ger ashore  ;  but  that  does  not  seem  to  be  the 
object  now." 

"  Why  not?"  said  Rollo. 

"  Because  I  don't  see  any  passenger  or 
any  baggage." 

"  Perhaps  that  man  is  a  passenger,  and  he 


1 

AN    EXPEDITION.  125 

has  no  baggage  except  his  little  box.  I  wish 
he  would  let  me  see  what  is  in  it." 

The  young  man  looked  over  the  side,  at 
the  sailors  in  the  boat.  They  were  getting 
out  the  oars.  One  man,  upon  the  deck  of 
the  steamboat,  was  holding  the  end  of  a 
rope,  which  was  fastened  to  the  bows  of  the 
boat. 

"  He  does  not  look  like  a  passenger,"  said 
Rollo's  father,  in  reply  to  what  Rollo  had 
said  ;  and,  besides,  there  is  no  shore  in  sight 
where  they  might  land  him." 

"  Well,  father,  then  what  are  they  going 
to  do  ? " 

"  I  know,  1  suppose,"  said  his  fathei  ; 
"  but  I  would  rather  not  tell  you  ;  I  want  to 
see  if  you  can  find  out  yourself,  by  observing 
the  movements." 

"  What  course  shall  I  steer,  sir  ?  "  said  the 
young  man,  looking  around  and  upwards. 
Rollo  looked  up,  and  saw  the  captain  stand- 
ing upon  the  wheel-house,  where  he  was 
observing  what  took  place  on  board  the 
boat. 

"  About  north-north-east,"  said  the  cap- 
tain. "  Pull  in,  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  01 
11* 


126  AN    EXPEDITION. 

so,  and  then  you  had  better  return,  unless 
you  hear  the  breakers." 

"  What  does  he  mean  by  the  breakers  ?  " 
said  Rollo. 

"  The  waves  dashing  upon  the  rocks  and 
the  shore." 

"  Why,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  there  are  not 
any  waves  this  morning." 

"  There  is  always  a  swell  upon  the  sea, 
which  makes  more  or  less  noise  upon  the 
rocks,"  replied  his  father. 

"John,"  said  the  young  man,  addressing 
one  of  the  sailors  on  board  the  boat,  "  take 
this  compass  a  moment." 

u  Is  that  a  compass?  "  asked  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  answered  his  father.  "  I  suppose 
it  is  what  they  call  a  boat-compass.  That 
is  to  let  him  know  which  way  to  steer." 

When  the  sailor  had  taken  the  compass, 
the  young  man  got  down  into  the  boat,  and 
took  his  place  near  the  stern.  He  adjusted 
the  tiller,  and  took  his  seat  by  it. 

"  Cast  off,"  said  he. 

The  man  who  held  the  rope,  which  con- 
fined the  boat  to  the  side  of  the  steamboat, 
cast  it  off,  and  one  of  the  men  in  the  boat 
took  it  in. 


AN    EXPEDITION.  127 

"  Give  way,"  said  the  young  man  at  the 
helm  ;  and  the  sailors  pushed  the  boat  off 
with  their  oars,  and  immediately  commenced 
rowing.  The  young  helmsman  held  his 
tiller  in  one  hand,  and  his  compass  in  the 
other,  and  away  they  went  into  the  fog. 
The  boat  soon  grew  dim,  and  disappeared, 
though  Rollo  could  hear  the  sound  of  the 
oars  for  some  time  after  he  ceased  to  see  the 
boat.  At  length,  however,  the  sound  died 
away,  and  the  steamboat  lay  floating  quietly 
upon  the  water,  with  no  sounds,  to  break  the 
silence,  but  the  voices  and  footsteps  of  the 
passengers,  and  a  low,  hissing  noise  some- 
where about  the  engine. 

"  I  know  what  they  are  going  for,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  What  ?  "  asked  his  father. 

"  To  see  if  they  can  find  the  shore,"  re- 
plied Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father ;  "  that  is  it,  I 
suppose." 

After  sitting  a  few  minutes,  Rollo  and  his 
father  rose  from  their  seats,  and  went  away 
to  another  part  of  the  vessel.  The  air  felt 
warmer.  It  looked  lighter  overhead.  Pres- 
ently the  great  bell  of  the  steamboat,  which 


128  AN    EXPEDITION. 

was  hung  up  over  the  engine,  was  rung 
violently. 

"  What  is  that  for  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  his  father. 

They  walked  on  towards  the  bows  of  the 
boat.  The  firemen  and  engineers  were 
standing  idly  about,  talking  and  laughing. 
Rollo  saw  a  door  open  into  another  small 
room,  where  there  was  a  fire.  He  looked  in. 
There  was  a  great  cooking  range  there,  and 
several  colored  men  cooking. 

"  O,  here  is  the  kitchen,"  said  Rollo; 
"  and  they  are  getting  the  breakfast." 

They  went  along  a  little  farther,  and  came 
to  the  bows  of  the  boat.  A  man,  whom 
Rollo  had  seen  before,  keeping  a  lookout 
upon  the  bowsprit,  was  still  there.  Other 
people  were  standing  about,  looking  off  into 
the  fog,  and  trying  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
land,  whenever  it  lightened  up  a  moment. 
A  few  minutes  afterwards,  the  bell  rang 
again  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  stopped. 

Rollo  looked  around  at  the  man  who  was 
pulling  the  rope,  and  said  he  wished  he  knew 
what  he  was  ringing  so  for.  His  father  told 
him  that  he  might  go  and  ask  him. 

So  Rollo  went  up  a  little  ladder,  which 


AN    EXPEDITION.  129 

led  from  the  forward  part  of  the  boat,  up  to 
where  the  man  was  standing  to  ring,  and 
said  to  him, 

"  Will  you  please  to  tell  me,  sir,  what  that 
bell  was  for? " 

"  The  bell  ?  "  said  the  man,  who  was  just 
coming  away.  "  O,  the  bell  is  to  call  the 
dolphins  to  town-meeting." 

The  man  smiled  sarcastically,  when  lie 
said  this.  Rollo  stared  for  a  moment,  with 
astonishment,  but  as  soon  as  he  had  a  mo- 
ment to  reflect,  he  perceived  that  the  man 
was  not  in  earnest,  and  he  turned  away  and 
went  back  down  the  ladder.  He  felt  rather 
mortified,  and  his  father  perceived  that  there 
was  an  expression  of  disappointment  in  his 
countenance. 

"  Well,  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  "  and  what 
did  he  say  ?  " 

u  He  would  not  tell  me,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Wouldn't  he  tell  you  ? "  asked  his 
father.     "  Why  not  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  sir.  He  said  it  was  to 
call  the  dolphins  to  a  town-meeting,  and  I 
knoio  it  wasn't." 

Rollo  nodded  his  head,  as  he  said  this, 
with  a  determined  air5   as  if  he  was  very 


130  AN    EXPEDITION. 

positive  that  it  could  not  really  be  to  call 
dolphins  to  a  town-meeting.  His  father 
smiled. 

"  I  suppose  they  have  a  great  many  fool- 
ish questions  asked  them  by  the  passengers," 
said  he,  "  and  they  get  tired  of  answering 
them.     So  I  will  tell  you  myself." 

"  Well,  sir,  what  is  it  for  ?" 

'"  It  is  to  guide  the  boat  back  to  us  when 
she  returns.  When  they  send  a  boat  ashore 
in  the  fog,  they  generally  ring  a  bell  occa- 
sionally, or  make  some  other  sound,  —  per- 
haps they  fire  guns,  —  so  that  the  boatman 
may  hear  it  when  he  gets  back  pretty  near, 
and  so  find  his  way  to  the  steamboat  again." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  they  can  tell 
by  their  compass." 

"  So  they  can,  very  nearly ;  but  some- 
times the  wind  or  the  current  drifts  them 
about  so  that  they  cannot  come  back  ex- 
actly to  the  point  they  set  out  from.  They 
can  come  pretty  near  to  it,  and  then,  if  they 
should  not  happen  to  come  near  enough  to 
see  the  ship  or  the  steamboat,  the  bell  will 
guide  them." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rollo,  "  I  understand  ;  and  I 
think  it  is  an  excellent  plan." 


AN    EXPEDITION.  131 

As  Rollo  said  this,  he  happened  to  turn 
round  so  as  to  look  off  upon  the  water ;  and 
he  suddenly  exclaimed ,  "  O,  father  !  look 
there  !  " 

His  father  turned  in  the  direction  to  which 
Rollo  pointed,  and  saw  that  the  fog  had 
risen  from  off  the  surface  of  the  water,  in 
one  place,  so  as  to  make  a  sort  of  opening, 
and  they  could  look  through  it  to  a  consid- 
erable distance.  In  the  middle  of  the  open- 
ing there  was  a  vessel,  lying  motionless  upon 
the  glassy  surface  of  the  water,  with  her 
sails  hanging  lifeless  against  the  masts. 
There  was  a  small  boat  out  before  the  ves- 
sel, and  some  men  in  it,  rowing.  Rollo 
could  hear  the  distant  sounds  of  the  oars, 
but  the  boat  did  not  appear  to  be  moving  for- 
ward at  all. 

"Father,"  said  Rollo,  "they  pull  hard, 
but  they  don't  get  along  any." 

"  They  are  towing  the  vessel,'''  replied  his 
father." 

"  Towing  ?  "  repeated  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father.  "  There  is  a 
rope  leading  from  the  boat  to  the  bows  of  the 
vessel,  and  they  are  endeavoring  to  pull  the 
vessel  forward  ;  so  they  advance  very  slow." 


132  AN    EXPEDITION. 

"  But  I  can't  see  any  rope,"  said  Rollo. 

"No,"  replied  his  father,  "it  hangs  down 
in  the  water." 

"I  can  hear -the  oars,"  said  Rollo. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "sound  comes 
very  far  over  the  water  in  a  still  morning." 

By  this  time  the  fog,  which  was  slowly 
moving  along,  had  once  more  enveloped  the 
vessel  and  the  boat,  and  hidden  them  from 
view.  Rollo  looked  all  around  the  horizon. 
The  fog  looked  lighter,  and  the  air  felt 
warmer,  but  there  was  no  decided  opening. 
He  saw  a  large,  bright  place  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  sky.  His  father  told  him  that  it 
was  the  sun,  and  he  thought  that  it  would 
probabl  y  clear  off  soon. 

"Father,"  said  Rollo,  "I  should  think 
that  we  might  hear  the  oars  of  our  boat, 
when  it  gets  back  pretty  near  the  ship, 
before  we  can  see  it." 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  I  think  we 
may." 

"  I  mean  to  go  over  to  the  other  side  and 
listen." 

So  Rollo  went  over  to  the  other  side  of 
the  steamboat,  which  was  the  side  that  the 
boat    went   off  from.     His   father  followed 


AN    EXPEDITION.  133 

him.  They  found  that  a  great  many  people 
had  now  got  up,  and  were  walking  about  the 
deck.  Ladies  and  children,  in  considerable 
numbers,  sat  around  the  door  of  the  ladies' 
cabin.  Rollo  and  his  father  leaned  over  the 
bulwarks,  and  listened,  but  they  could  not 
hear  any  sound  upon  the  water  like  the 
strokes  of  oars.  Rollo  thought  it  was  be- 
cause there  were  so  many  people  talking 
about  the  decks. 

In  the  mean  time  the  fog  continued  to 
rise  and  to  break  away  here  and  there,  until 
at  length  the  sun  suddenly  blazed  through, 
and  at  the  same  moment  the  pilot,  who  was 
constantly  looking  all  around,  got  a  distinct 
view  of  the  land,  nearly  ahead. 

"  What  land  is  that  ?  "  said  the  captain. 

"  It  looks  like  the  land  along  to  tho 
north'ard  of  Beacon  Head,"  said  the  pilot. 

"  Yes,"  he  added,  in  a  minute,  "  there's 
Beacon  Head  just  coming  into  view." 

As  he  said  this  he  was  standing  with  the 
captain  upon  the  wheel-house,  and  Rollo 
could  hear  and  see  them.  So  Rollo  looked 
in  the  direction  to  which  the  pilot  pointed, 
and  he  just  got  a  glimpse  of  a  light-house, 
standing  upon  a  promontory  which  projected 
12 


134  AN    EXPEDITION. 

a  little  from  the  shore.  The  fog,  however, 
slowly  floated  over  it,  and  concealed  it  all 
again,  almost  immediately,  from  their  view. 

"Now,"  said  the  pilot,  "if  our  boat  was 
back,  we  might  run  right  in." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  captain  j  "  at  any  rate, 
we'll  fire  up." 

"  Fire  up  f"  said  Rollo  to  his  father. 
"  y^hat  does  that  mean  ?  " 

"  It  means,  build  up  the  fires  under  the 
boilers,  so  as  to  have  the  steam  all  ready." 

"  Well,  but,  father,"  said  Rollo,  looking  a 
little  alarmed,  u  then  the  steamboat  will  go 
off  and  leave  the  little  boat  behind." 

"  No,"  said  his  father. 

"  Why,  yes,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  the  steam 
will  crowd  into  the  cylinder,  first  above  the 
piston,  and  then  below,  so  as  to  make  it 
move  up  and  down,  and  that  will  drive  the 
piston  rod,  and  the  piston  rod  will  drive  the 
beam,  and  the  beam  the  crank,  and  the 
crank  the  paddle-wheels,  and  the  paddle- 
wheels  will  carry  the  boat  along  through 
the  water.  /  think  they  had  better  not  fire 
up  till  they  are  ready  to  go." 

"  No,"  replied  his  father,  "  they  will  not 
let  the  steam  get  into  the  cylinder." 


AN    EXPEDITION.  135 

"  How  can  they  help  it  ? "  said  Rollo. 

u  There  is  a  stop  cock  in  the  great  steam 
pipe  which  leads  from  the  boiler  to  the 
engine,  and  they  can  keep  this  stop  cock 
shut,  and  then  none  of  the  steam  can  get 
into  the  engine  until  they  are  ready  to  have 
the  boat  go  forward." 

"  Then  the  steam  will  have  to  stay  in  the 
boiler,  and  it  will  keep  increasing  there  till 
the  boiler  will  burst,"  said  Rollo. 

11  No,"  replied  his  father,  M  because  there 
is  a  waste  steam  pipe  to  let  it  off  by." 

u  Is  there  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father. 

"  That  is  a  good  plan,"  said  Rollo. 

"  But  then,"  continued  Rollo,  after  think- 
ing a  moment,  "  why  does  not  the  steam 
leak  off  through  the  waste  steam  pipe  all  the 
time  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  his  father,  "  they  have  a 
valve,  loaded  with  weights,  pressing  down 
upon  the  opening,  so  as  to  keep  it  in,  except 
when  they  want  to  let  it  off,  or  when  the 
steam  gets  to  be  so  hot  and  powerful  that  it 
would  endanger  the  boiler.  It  then  raises 
the  weights  itself,  and  that  lifts  the  valve, 
and   the  surplus  steam  escapes.     So#if  the 


136  AN    EXPEDITION. 

boat  does  not  get  back  before  they  get  the 
steam  up,  they  will  raise  this  valve,  and  let 
the  steam  off." 

"  I  am  glad  of  that,"  said  Rollo. 

But  the  boat  did  get  back  before  the  steam 
was  up  ;  and  accordingly  Rollo  heard,  before 
a  long  time,  a  loud,  hissing  sound  bursting 
from  the  steam  pipe.  It  made  so  much 
noise  that  they  could  not  talk  very  well. 
The  fog,  however,  continued  to  grow  lighter, 
and  to  rise  here  and  there  from  the  water. 
Large  openings  appeared  in  different  parts  of 
the  sky.  The  suil  shone  out  now  and  then, 
and  the  passengers  frequently  got  glimpses 
of  the  land  through  the  openings  of  the  fog. 
Many  of  them  walked  about  restless  and  dis- 
contented, wondering  why  the  captain  did 
not  proceed.  They  found  a  great  deal  of 
fault  with  him,  —  not  knowing  that  the  boat 
was  out.  The  captains  of  steamboats  very 
often  get  severely  censured  by  fretful  passen- 
gers, who  know  very  little  about  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  to  which  their  censure  is 
applied. 


137 


THE   MORNING   SONG. 

At  length  the  loud  hissing  of  the  steam 
suddenly  stopped,  and,  at  the  same  moment, 
Hollo  began  to  hear  the  strokes  of  oars  across 
the  water  in  the  fog.  The  sound  seemed  to 
come  from  astern  of  the  steamboat.  The 
boat  had  not  gone  in  that  direction,  and 
Rollo  was  surprised  to  hear  the  sound  of  oars 
there. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "I  hear  the  oars  ;  but 
I  think  it  must  be  some  other  boat." 

"  Why  ?  "   said  his  father. 

"  Because  it  is  coming  up  another  way." 

"  No,"  said  his  father,  "  it  is  our  boat 
probably  ;  perhaps  she  has  drifted  astern,  — 
or  perhaps  the  steamboat  may  have  swung 
round." 

"Q,  father!"  said  Rollo,  "no:  if  the 
whole  steamboat  had  swung  round,  we 
should  have  known  it." 

"  I  don't  think  we  should  have  noticed  it, 

/*  11  * 


13S  THE    MORNING    SONG. 

I 

unless  we  could  have  seen  the  land,  or  some 
fixed  object." 

The  idea  of  the  steamboat's  swinging 
around,  without  its  being  noticed  by  the 
people  actually  on  board  of  it,  was  perfectly 
inadmissible  to  Hollo's,  mind.  While  he 
was  pondering  upon  it,  however,  the  sound 
of  the  oars  grew  more  and  more  distinct  as 
they  came  nearer,  and  at  length  he  began  to 
see  a  dark,  shapeless  mass  in  the  fog,  which, 
as  it  approached,  gradually  assumed  the 
form  of  the  boat,  and  the  oarsmen  soon 
pulled  it  up  alongside.  The  instant  that  the 
foremost  oarsman  sprung  out  upon  the  deck 
of  the  steamboat,  a  little  bell  jingled  in  the 
engine  room,  —  the  great  piston  rod  slowly 
hove  itself  upwards,  the  paddle-wheels  re- 
solved, and  the  water  by  the  sides  of  the 
boat  were  lashed  into  foam. 

The  little  boat  was  dragged  through  the 
water,  while  two  men,  who  remained  in  it, 
were  hooking  two  iron  hooks  into  rings  in 
the  bottom  of  the  boat.  The  hooks  were 
fastened  to  strong  ropes,  which  were  sus- 
pended from  the  great  iron  cranes.  The 
men  on  board  then  pulled  the  boat  up  until 
it  was  entirely  out  of  the  water,  and  then. 


THE    MORNING    SONG.  139 

when  it  was  high  enough,  they  swung  it 
in  over  the  side,  and  snugly  deposited  it 
again  in  its  place  by  the  side  of  the  ladies' 
cabin.  Rollo  then  observed  that  the  steam- 
boat was  ploughing  her  way  swiftly  through 
the  water. 

"  The  steamboat  had  swung  around," 
said  Rollo 's  father. 

11  How  do  you  know,  sir  ?  "   said  Rollo. 

His  father  pointed  forward  to  the  sky,  and 
there,  nearly  over  the  bows,  Rollo  saw  the 
sun,  shining  indistinctly  through  the  fog. 

"  When  we  first  saw  the  sun,  it  was 
away  here,"  said  his  father,  pointing  off  to 
the  right,  ' '  and  the  small  boat  went  off  to  the 
left.  Now,  the  sun  is  ahead,  which  shows 
that  the  steamboat  swung  around  towards 
the  right,  until  she  pointed  directly  towards 
the  sun  ;  of  course  the  small  boat,  in  coming 
back,  would  come  up  astern." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

a  And  now,"  added  his  father,  "  we  are 
swinging  back  again." 

He  pointed  at  the  sun  as  he  said  this,  and 
Rollo  observed  that  it  appeared  to  be  moving 
pretty  swiftly  around,  towards  the  right,  into 
its  ol  1  place.     So  Rollo  knew  that  the  boat 


140  THE    MORNING    SONG. 

was  coming  back  into  its  former  course.  It 
was,  however,  in  the  mean  time,  moving 
swiftly  forward,  and  Rollo  was  very  glad  to 
be  again  fairly  under  way. 

In  a  few  minutes  a  boy  came  along,  ring- 
ing a  bell  violently,  which  Rollo's  father 
said  was  for  breakfast,  and  so  they  both 
went  below. 

About  the  middle  of  breakfast  time,  Rollo 
was  saying  to  his  father  that  he  was  very 
glad  they  had  got  clear  of  the  fog,  when 
suddenly  the  engine  stopped. 

"  There  !  »  said  Rollo. 

"  More  fog,  I  suppose,"  said  his  father, 
smiling. 

Rollo  listened,  and  heard  voices  upon 
deck. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "  I  think  something 
must  be  the  matter." 

"  Well,  suppose  you  go  and  see." 

So  Rollo  took  up  his  hat,  which  he  had 
safely  deposited  under  his  seat  at  the  table, 
and  hastily  went  up  the  stairs.  He  found 
that  the  air  was  rather  thick  again,  and  he 
heard  loud  voices  away  forward,  and  appa- 
rently upon  the  promenade  deck.  He  accord- 
ingly ran  up  the  promenade  deck  stairs,  and 


THE    MORNING    SONG.  141 

there  he  saw,  almost  exactly  before  the 
steamboat,  a  great,  black-looking  vessel, 
drifting  down  sideways  directly  upon  them. 
The  men  in  the  vessel  and  those  in  the 
steamboat  were  hallooing  to  each  other, 
giving  directions  to  avoid  a  collision. 

"  Put  your  helm  hard  up,"  shouted  the 
pilot  to  the  helmsman  of  the  schooner. 

"  Hard  up  it  is,"  cried  out  the  helmsman, 
in  reply. 

The  two  ponderous  masses,  in  the  mean 
time,  pressed  heavily  on  towards  one  another, 
—  one  gradually  going  to  one  side  and  the 
other  to  the  other.  The  little  jingling  bell 
was  rung,  and  the  engine  was  started,  but 
the-  wheels  went  backwards.  This  stopped 
in  some  measure  the  steamboat's  way.  Still 
the  schooner  was  gradually  approaching.  At 
least  so  it  seemed  to  Rollo.  But  the  fact 
was,  the  schooner  was  going  forward  in  the 
same  direction  with  the  steamer,  only  the 
steamer  was  going  the  fastest,  and  so  slowly 
coming  up  with  the  schooner.  As  the  latter, 
however,  gradually  diminished  her  speed, 
and  as  they  were  both  moving  with  nearly 
the  same  velocity  at  last,  and  m  the  same 
direction,  there  would  have  been  no  great 


142  THE    MORNING    SONG. 

danger,  if  they  had  actually  come  into  con- 
tact. But  they  did  not  come  into  contact. 
They  approached  very  near,  and  for  a  minute 
or  two  sailed  along,  side  by  side,  close 
together.  They,  however,  soon  began  to 
recede  again,  and  then  the  engine  was  again 
put  in  motion  in  the  right  direction,  and  the 
steamboat  began  to  advance  swiftly  once 
more.  In  a  few  minutes  the  schooner  was 
at  some  distance  astern. 

Rollo  had  been  somewhat  frightened,  and 
he  now  went  down  stairs  in  haste,  to  tell  his 
father  what  a  narrow  escape  they  had  had. 

"  Well,  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  as  he  ad- 
vanced to  his  place  at  the  table,  "  we  seem 
to  be  going  again." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo;  "but  you  don't 
know  what  a  terrible  escape  we  have  had." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  his  father,  in  a  tone  of  indif- 
ference, helping  himself  at  the  same  time  to 
another  piece  of  toast. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo,  with  a  face  full  of 
terror ;  "  we  almost  ran  against  a  great 
schooner." 

"  Indeed  !  "  said  his  father  ;  "  well,  I  am 
glad  it  was  not  the  fog.  I  should  be  sorry 
if  we  had  got  into  the  fog  again." 


THE    MORNING    SONG.  143 

"  Come  up  on  deck  with  me,  father,  and 
you  can  see  the  schooner  now." 

"  No,"  said  his  father,  very  coolly,  "  I  pre- 
sume there  is  no  danger  that  we  shall  run 
foul  of  her  again,  and  we  had  better  finish 
our  breakfast." 

Hollo  was  very  much  surprised  to  find  his 
father  so  unmoved  at  his  story  of  their  dan- 
ger. He  had  expected  that  he  would  have 
left  the  table  immediately,  and  have  gone  up 
to  see  the  schooner,  by  which,  as  he  thought, 
they  came  so  near  being  dashed  to  pieces. 
But  so  far  from  this,  his  father  did  not  seem 
to  care  any  thing  at  all  about  it. 

Rollo  sat  down  to  finish  his  breakfast.  His 
father  went  on  talking  with  a  gentleman 
who  sat  next  him.  It  was  not  long,  how- 
ever, before  he  heard  the  little  bell  again, 
and  immediately  the  engine  stopped. 

►"  There,  father,"  said  Rollo,  "  we're  going 
to  run  against  another  schooner." 

"  I  hope  not,"  said  his  father,  quietly. 

"  Please,  sir,  to  let  me  go  and  see." 

"  Yes,  if  you  wish,"  said  his  father; 
"  but  I  rather  advise  you  to  sit  still  where 
you  are." 

Rollo  had  already  taken  up  his  hat,  and 


144  THE    MORNING    SONG. 

risen  from  his  seat.  He  said  that  he  had 
rather  go,  if  his  father  was  willing.  He 
accordingly  went  off  in  great  haste,  and  ran 
up  the  stairs.  He  found  the  boat  completely 
surrounded  by  fog.  He  went  to  the  upper 
deck,  and  walked  along  forward.  Several 
men  were  standing  there,  and  among  them 
the  pilot  and  the  captain. 

"We  shall  not  hear  any  breakers,  now,  we 
are  so  far  inside,  I  suppose,"  said  the  captain. 

"No,"  replied  the  pilot;  "but  it  will 
lighten  up  a  little  presently,  and  then  we  can 
move  on  slowly.  He  could  see  the  land 
soon  enough  from  the  bowsprit,  if  it  was  not 
quite  so  thick." 

Rollo  looked  out  to  the  end  of  the  bow- 
sprit and  saw  the  lookout  still  there.  On 
closer  inspection,  however,  he  perceived  that 
it  was  not  the  man  who  was  there  at  first. 
He  supposed  that  the  first  one  had  got  tired, 
and  that  they  had  accordingly  changed  him. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  air  became  some- 
what clearer,  and  the  engine  began  to  move 
again.  It  went,  however,  very  slowly.  They 
had  not  advanced  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  before  the  lookout  man  called  out 
suddenly  for  them  to  stop  the  engine. 


THE    MORNING    SONG.  145 

The  engine  was  instantly  stopped. 

The  lookout  gazed  steadily  forward  into 
the  fog  before  him. 

u  Back  water,'5  said  he,  turning  round  a 
moment,  and  then  looking  forward,  as  before. 

The  little  bell  jiggled,  and  then  the  great 
paddle-wheels  began  slowly  to  revolve  back- 
wards. 

1  Do  you  see  the  land  ? "    said  the  pilot. 
1  No,"  said  he,  «  but  hark  !  " 

All  the  people  were  immediately  silent 
and  breathless,  and  they  heard  a  little  bird 
singing  directly  ahead.  In  a  moment  after- 
wards, a  dark  spot  began  to  appear  in  the  fog 
before  them,  which  grew  gradually  more 
and  more  distinct.  Rolio  knew  it  was  the 
land.  The  boat  had  now  ceased  to  advance 
towards  it,  but  as  the  fog  was  slowly  clear- 
ing away,  the  land  soon  became  distinctly 
visible. 

"  If  it  had  not  been  for  that  bird's  morn- 
ing song,"  said  a  passenger,  "  perhaps  we 
should  have  run  ashore." 

The  land  appeared  to  be  an  island,  and 
the  engine  was  put  in  motion,  and  the  steam- 
boat steered   around  it.     In  the  mean  time, 

<r  13 


146  T\IE    MORNING    SONG. 

larger  and  brighter  openings  appeared  here 
and  there  in  the  fog.  The  sun  broke  forth 
once  or  twice  in  great  splendor.  The  fog 
gradually  rose  from  the  surface  of  the  water, 
or  receded  ;  and  it  floated  in  vast,  fleecy 
masses  in  the  air.  Large  patches  of  blue  sky 
appeared,  and  distinct  and  well-defined  shores 
began  to  come  into  view  here  and  there,  all 
around.  Rollo  soon  perceived  that  they 
were  in  a  bay,  with  a  multitude  of  islands 
all  around  them ;  and  when  he  went  back 
again  down  stairs,  the  boat  was  running  on 
merrily  over  the  glassy  water. 

He  found  them  all  getting  up  from  break- 
fast. Rollo  did  not  care,  for  he  said  he  did 
not  want  any  more.  His  father,  however, 
gave  him  a  little  cake,  which  he  carried  up 
upon  deck,  to  eat  there. 

"Now,"  said  his  father,  "it  is  time  to 
look  out  our  baggage." 

"  Why  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Because,"  said  his  father,  "  we  are  going 
to  leave  the  boat  pretty  soon." 

"  A'nt  we  going  to  the  end  of  the  voyage, 
with  the  steamboat?"  said  Rollo. 

"No,"  replied  his  father,  "  they  are  going 


THE    MORNING    SONG.  147 

to  leave  us  at   a  landing  about  five  miles 
ahead." 

"  Then  how  shall  we  get  along  the  rest 
of  the  way  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  We  are  going  in  the  stage,"  said  his 
father,  "I  expect." 

As  his  father  said  this,  he  was  busy  put- 
ting his  own  and  Rollo's  baggage  together. 
Presently  they  went  up  upon  the  promenade 
deck.  They  saw  a  small  village  at  some 
distance  before  them,  upon  the  shore.  As 
they  gradually  approached  it,  they  perceived 
a  wharf,  and  several  people  standing  upon 
it,  and  one  or  two  carts  and  wagons.  The 
steamboat  advanced  until  she  was  pretty 
near  to  the  wharf,  and  then  the  engine  was 
stopped.  One  of  the  sailors  threw  a  rope 
ashore.  A  man  standing  there  caught  it. 
By  this  rope  a  heavy  cable,  with  a  loop  in 
it,  was  drawn  to  the  wharf,  and  the  loop  was 
passed  over  a  gieat  post.  The  other  end  of 
the  cable  was  then  pulled  upon  hard,  by  four 
or  five  sailors  on  board,  and  thus  the  head  of 
the  steamboat  was  drawn  slowly  up  to  the 
wharf.  The  plank  was  then  put  across, 
and  Rollo  and  his  father,  with  their  baggage, 
and  also  several  other  passengers,  passed 
over  it  safe  to  land. 


148 


TESTIMONY. 

Rollo  and  his  father  walked  up  to  a 
small  tavern  which  stood  in  a  solitary  place, 
not  very  far  from  the  landing.  A  man  took 
up  their  baggage  in  a  wheelbarrow.  Here 
they  found  that  there  was  no  stage  going  in 
the  direction  where  they  were  travelling  ;  but 
the  inn-keeper  told  them  that  by  going  four 
or  five  miles  they  would  come  to  the  great 
stage-road,  and  that  there  they  might  take 
the  next  stage  when  it  should  come  along ;  — 
which  the  man  said  he  believed  would  be 
that  very  day. 

"  At  what  time  ?  "  asked  Rollo 's  father. 

"About  11  o'clock." 

"  Then  we  shall  just  have  time  to  get 
there.  Now,  how  can  we  get  a  convey- 
ance ?  " 

The  inn-keeper  said  he  had  a  wagon,  but 
it  was  gone  away.  He  expected  it  back 
every  minute,  for  it  had  only  gone  two  or 
three  miles  away  ;  and  as  soon  as  it  should 
return  the  travellers  might  have  it. 


TESTIMONY.  149 

a  Is  not  there  some  other  wagon  or  chaise 
in  the  place  ?  "  said  Hollo's  father. 

"No,"  replied  the  inn-keeper.  "  excepting 
Squire  Williams's,  and  his  has  gone  a  jour- 
ney." 

"  How  much  should  you  charge  for  your 
wagon  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Holiday. 

"  O,  I  don't  know,"  said  the  inn-keeper, 
with  a  swaggering  air,  walking  about  the 
bar-room.  "  I  sha'n't  charge  you  any  more 
than  is  fair.  We  can  settle  it  when  we  get 
there." 

"  How  far  is  it  ?  "  said  Mr.  Holiday. 

"  O,  —  five  miles,  —  about." 

"Well,"  said  Rollo's  father,  "I  am  sorry 
the  wagon  isn't  here,  for  we  ought  to  set 
out  immediately.  Bat  come,  Rollo,  we  will 
go  out  and  see  what  we  can  find. 

"  I  may  possibly  find  some  mode  of  con- 
veyance," he  added,  addressing  the  tavern- 
keeper,  "  and  at  any  rate,  I  will  keep  a  look- 
out, and  see  your  wagon  when  it  comes 
back." 

As  Rollo  and  his  father  walked  away  from 
the  door,  Rollo  asked  where  they  were  going. 

"  I  am  going  to  see  if  I  can't  find  another 
wagon/'  replied  his  father. 
13* 


150  TESTIMONY. 

"But  the  man  told  you/'  said  Rollo, 
11  that  there  was  not  another  wagon  in  the 
place." 

"  But  I  don't  believe  him,"  said  his  father. 

"  Don't  believe  him  ?  "  exclaimed  Rollo. 
"Why  not,  sir?" 

"  Because  I  don't  know  what  his  character 
is,  and  his  appearance  is  rather  against  him. 
So  I  am  going  to  inquire  for  myself." 

"  But,  father,  I  should  not  think  you  ought 
to  conclude  that  the  man  told  a  lie,  just  from 
his  appearance." 

"Did  I  say  I  thought  he  told  a  lie?" 
asked  his  father. 

"  You  said  you  did  not  believe  him," 
replied  Rollo. 

"  Well,"  rejoined  his  father,  "  that  is  a 
different  thing." 

"  Why,  father?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  At  least  I  meant  a  different  thing.  I 
neither  believe,  nor  disbelieve.  I  have  no 
means  of  judging,  and  so  I  keep  my  judg- 
ment in  suspense.  He  tells  me  there  is  no 
other  wagon  in  the  place.  Now,  men  gen- 
erally tell  the  truth,  unless  they  have  an 
interest  in  falsehood  ;  and  he  has  an  interest 
in  preventing  our  finding  another  wagon,  for 


TESTIMONY.  151 

he  wants  us  to  hire  his.  Then  his  appear- 
ance is  not  much  in  his  favor ;  and  so  I  am 
in  doubt  whether  I  ought  to  receive  his  tes- 
timony or  not." 

"  But,  father,"  rejoined  Rollo,  not  con- 
vinced, "I  should  think  that  not  believing 
what  he  says  is  just  the  same  as  believing 
he  told  a  lie." 

*  I  suppose  it  is,  with  you.  When  you 
don't  believe  a  thing,  you  positively  disbe- 
lieve it.  You  have  not  learned  yet  to  hold 
your  judgment  in  suspense,  for  better  evi- 
dence. But  I  have;  and  I  presume  you 
will,  before  you  are  as  old  as  I  am." 

"  How  do  you  mean,  sir  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Why,  let  me  think,"  said  his  father. 
"  Do  you  believe  that  mother  is  in  the  parlor 
now  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  any  thing  about  it,"  said 
Rollo,  "whether  she  is  or  not." 

"  Then  of  course,"  replied  his  father, 
"  you  cannot  be  said  to  believe  that  she  is  in 
the  parlor." 

"No,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  And  do  you  believe  that  she  is  not  in 
the  parlor?" 


152  TESTIMONY. 

"No,  sir,  —  I  don't  know,"  said  Rollo, 
emphatically. 

"  Well,  now,"  rejoined  his  father,  "  the 
philosophy  of  it  is  just  this.  You  have  no 
evidence  at  all,  in  respect  to  mother's  being 
in  the  parlor,  or  not  being  in  the  parlor,  just 
at  this  time,  and  so  your  mind  holds  itself  in 
suspense.  It  neither  believes  nor  disbelieves, 
but  waits  for  evidence.  This  is  a  very 
common  condition  for  the  mind  to  be  in. 
Even  the  minds  of  boys  hold  themselves 
in  suspense,  when  there  is  no  evidence 
whatever.  But  when  there  is  a  little  evi- 
dence, although  it  may  be  very  unsatis- 
factory, and  even  when  there  is  only  a  little 
appearance  of  evidence,  they  are  very  apt  to 
jump  to  a  decision,  right  or  wrong,  and  to 
believe  or  disbelieve  very  confidently ;  — 
while  sensible  men,  who  have  had  experi- 
ence, and  profited  by  it,  disregard  the  insuf- 
ficient evidence,  and  still  hold  their  minds 
in  suspense." 

"That  is  the  best  way,  I  think,"  said 
Rollo. 

"  Now  m  this  case."  continued  his  father, 
"  although  appearances  are  against  the    man, 


TESTIMONY.  153 

there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  to  justify  me 
in  deciding  against  him;  nor  is  there  suffi- 
cient to  induce  me  to  place  confidence  in 
his  testimony.  So  I  neither  believe  nor 
disbelieve.  I  am  going  out  to  this  little 
store  to  inquire  j  and  I  am  really  uncertain 
whether  the  answer  will  confirm,  or  contra- 
dict, what  the  man  told  me.  Now  we  are 
coming  to  the  store,  and  cannot  talk  any 
more  about  it.  Will  you  remember  what  I 
have  told  you  ?  " 

"  I  will  try  to,  sir,"  replied  Rollo. 

"  The  amount  of  it  is,"  added  his  father, 
"  that  children  generally  hold  their  judg- 
ments in  suspense,  as  long  as  there  is  no 
evidence  at  all ;  but  as  soon  as  there  is  any 
evidence,  or  any  appearance  of  evidence, 
however  slight,  they  at  once  decide,  and 
half  of  the  time  are  wrong.  But  sensible 
men  pause  and  examine  the  evidence,  and 
do  not  allow  their  minds  to  decide  until  it  is 
satisfactory." 

Just  at  this  time  they  arrived  at  the  door 
of  a  small  store,  upon  a  corner  where  two 
roads  met.  There  were  some  posts  to  fasten 
horses  to.  and  a  little  porch  before  the  door. 


154  TESTIMONY. 

for  men  to  stand  under  in  the  rain.  Rollo 
and  his  father  went  in.  There  was  a  man 
at  a  desk  at  one  end  of  the  counter,  writing 
in  a  great  book.  There  were  boxes  and 
barrels  all  about  upon  the  floor,  and  rows  of 
jugs  and  pails  hanging  from  nails  in  the 
beams  over  head. 

Rollo's  father  asked  the  man  if  he  knew 
of  any  body  near  there,  who  could  probably 
let  him  have  a  horse  and  wagon  to  go  four 
or  five  miles.  The  man  said  he  had  one 
himself.  Mr.  Holiday  was  very  glad  ;  and 
after  agreeing  about  the  price,  he  engaged 
it,  and  they  all  went  out  together  to  a  little 
barn,  pretty  near,  to  harness  the  horse. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  get  your  wagon," 
said  Mr.  Holiday.  "I  was  afraid  that  I 
should  not  get  one.  I  understood  from  the 
tavern-keeper  that  there  were  none  in  the 
village." 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  man,  smiling  sarcas- 
tically, "  I  suppose  he  wanted  you  to  wait 
for  his." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Holiday,  "he  said  he 
expected  it  very  soon." 

"Very  soon!"  rejoined  the  store-keeper, 


TESTIMONY.  155 

in  a  tone  of  contempt :  "  his  wagon  will 
not  be  back  till  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 
It  has  gone  off  twenty  miles." 

Roho  and  his  father  went  over  to  the 
tavern  to  get  their  baggage  ready,  and  left 
the  wagon  to  be  sent  after  them,  with  a  boy 
to  drive  them,  and  bring  the  wagon  back.    - 

On  their  way,  Rollo  said, 

"  What  a  man,  to  tell  two  such  lies  !  " 

"  What  lies  do  you  mean  ?  "  said  Rollo 's 
father. 

"  Why,  the  two  lies  that  the  tavern-keeper 
told  us.  He  said  that  there  was  no  other 
wagon  in  the  place,  and  that  his  was  coming 
back  very  soon,  when  in  fact  it  is  twenty 
miles  off." 

"How  do  you  know  it  is  twenty  miles 
off?  "  said  his  father. 

"  Why,  the  store-keeper  told  us  so,"  said 
Rollo,  looking  up  eagerly  into  his  father's 
face. 

"  And  why  do  you  believe  the  store-keeper 
anymore  than  the  tavern-keeper?"  asked 
his  father. 

"  Why,  because,"  said  Rollo,  hesitating, 
—  "because  —  I  don't  know.  The  store- 
keeper told  us  he  had  gone  off  twenty  miles." 


156  TESTIMONY. 

"  That  is  true  ;  but  we  know  nothing  of 
his  character,  and  so  do  not  know  how  much 
confidence  to  place  in  what  he  says.  It  is 
clear  that  the  tavern-keeper  told  us  one  false- 
hood, for  we  actually  see  that  there  is  another 
wagon  j  but  as  to  the  other  question,  whether 
his  own  horse  and  wagon  have  gone  off 
twenty  miles,  or  only  a  short  distance,  we 
haven't  any  sufficient  ground  for  deciding 
which  of  the  contradictory  assertions  to 
believe.  This,  you  see,  is  another  of  those 
cases  in  which  we  ought  to  keep  our  judg- 
ment in  suspense,  and  wait  for  further  evi- 
dence." 

By  this  time  they  reached  the  tavern.  A 
few  minutes  afterwards,  the  horse  and  wagon 
which  they  had  engaged,  drove  up  to  the 
door.  They  put  in  their  baggage,  jumped 
in  themselves,  and  rode  rapidly  away;  a 
strange  boy,  who  came  with  the  wagon, 
sitting  upon  a  small  box  before  them,  to 
drive. 

They  had  proceeded  but  a  short  distance, 
before  they  met  a  wagon  coming  towards 
them. 

"  There  is  the  tavern-keeper's  wagon,  I 
suppose,"- said  Hollo,  "coming  now." 


TESTIMONY.  157 

"  Yes,"  said  the  strange  boy,  "  that's  his 
wagon." 

"  So  the  tavern-keeper,  —  "  began  Rollo  ; 
but  he  checked  himself,  and  did  not  finish 
what  lie  began.  He  was  going  to  say  that 
the  tavern-keeper  told  one  truth,  and  the 
store-keeper  one  falsehood  ;  but  he  did  not 
know  that  it  would  be  proper  to  speak 
freely  on  the  subject  in  the  presence  of  the 
boy. 

His  father  said  nothing,  for  the  same 
reasm;  but  he  was  confirmed  in  the  suspi- 
cions which  he  had  formed,  that  the  two 
men  were  rivals  and  enemies,  and  both  of 
them  unprincipled.  He  was  glad  to  get 
away,  and  have  no  more  to  do  with  them. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo,  after  they  had  been 
riding  for  some  time,  "  I  am  afraid  the  stage 
will  be  gone." 

"I  think  it  not  improbable  that  it  will 
be,"  replied  his  father. 

"  What  shall  we  do  if  it  is  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  his  father.  "  We 
shall  have  to  consider,  then,  what  to  do. 
Probably  we  must  wait  for  the  next  stage." 

"  O  dear  me,"  said   Rollo,  "  I  shall  not 
want  to  wait." 
14 


158  TESTIMONY. 

"  O,  we  must  not  borrow  trouble  on  that 
account,"  replied  his  father.  "  We  are 
doing  our  best  to  get  there  in  time,  and  if 
we  do  not  succeed,  we  must  submit  to  the 
consequences  patiently.  It  will  all  come 
out  right  in  the  end,  I  have  no  doubt." 

Rollo,  however,  could  not  help  wishing 
that  the  horse  would  go  faster,  though  the 
boy  drove  him  as  fast  as  was  prudent  and 
proper.  In  less  than  an  hour  they  came  to 
a  pleasant  village,  and  the  boy  drove  them 
up  to  the  door  of  a  snug  little  tavern  by  the 
road  side,  with  a  large  elm  before  it. 

"  This  is  the  stage-house,  sir,"  said  the 
boy. 

"And  the  stage  does  not  seem  to  be 
here,"  replied  Rollo' s  father.  "  I  suppose  it 
must  have  gone." 

Rollo  helped  the  boy  unload  the  baggage, 
while  his  father  went  in  to  inquire.  In  a 
few  moments  he  returned,  saying  that  the 
stage  had  been  gone  just  about  half  ah 
hour. 

"  O,  how  provoking  !  "  said  Rollo. 

"  It  does  not  provoke  me  much,"  said  his 
father,  as  he  took  hold  of  his  trunk  to  lift  it 
oat  of  the  wagon. 


TESTIMONY.  159 

"  Why,  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  O,  there  are  several  things  that  we  can 
do ;  and,  at  any  rate,  as  long  as  we  have 
such  good  quarters  as  these  to  spend  the 
day  in,  there  is  no  occasion  for  being  very 
much  provoked." 

The  baggage  was  taken  out,  and  the  boy 
paid  and  sent  back  with  the  wagon.  Rollo 
and  his  father  then  went  in.  A  woman 
showed  them  into  a  pleasant  little  back  par- 
lor ;  there  was  a  bright  fire  in  the  fireplace, 
and  a  garden  behind  the  house  was  in  view 
from  the  windows.  It  is  true,  that  at  this 
season  of  the  year  it  was  pleasanter  sitting 
by  the  fire  than  walking  in  the  garden ;  and 
yet  the  walks  and  alleys  looked  so  sheltered 
and  alluring,  —  running  among  fruit  trees, 
and  between  rows  of  currant  bushes,  —  that 
Rollo  wanted  very  much  to  go  out  there. 
His  father  gave  him  leave,  and  so  he  put  on 
his  cap,  and  away  he  went. 

It  was  a  very  pleasant  autumnal  morning  • 
and  after  rambling  about  in  the  garden  foi 
some  time,  Rollo  went  into  a  field  behind 
the  garden,  where  he  found  a  great  oak  tree, 
the  ground  under  it  covered  with  acorns. 

il  Ah !  "  said  he,   "  I'll  carry  home  a  bag 


160  TESTIMONY. 

of  acorns,  and  Thanny  and  I  will  plant 
them." 

So  he  began  to  pick  them  up,  and  put 
them  in  his  pockets.  He  filled  his  pockets 
full,  behind  and  before,  until  he  looked  like 
a  bumble-bee,  loaded  with  big  balls  of  wax 
upon  his  thighs. 

By  the  time  that  he  was  well  loaded,  his 
father  came  down  to  the  garden  fence,  and 
called  him.  Of  course,  Rollo  immediately 
left  the  tree,  and  went  towards  the  house. 
When  he  got  into  the  back  parlor,  he  found 
a  little  table  set,  ready  for  their  dinner. 
The  dinner  consisted  of  tea,  and  toast,  and 
an  apple-pie.  Rollo  was  glad  to  see  this, 
but  he  came  up  to  his  father,  and  clapping 
his  hands  upon  his  pockets,  puffed  out  with 
acorns,  he  said, 

"  See,  father." 

"  Why,  Rollo  !  "  said  his  father,  "  what 
have  you  got  your  pockets  so  stuffed  out 
with?  " 

" Acorns,"  said  Rollo.  "They  are  all 
acorns." 

"■  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  them  ?  " 
asKed  his  father,  half  smiling. 

"O,  I  am   going  to  carry  them  home  for 


TESTIMONY.  161 

Thanny,  —  that  is  to  say,  for  Thanny  and 
me." 

"How  are  you  going  to  carry  them?" 
said  his  father. 

"  O,  I  am  going  to  put  them  in  a  bag," 
replied  Rollo. 

"  And  where  are  you  going  to  get  your 
bag?" 

"Why  —  I  don't  know,"  said  Rollo,  hesi- 
tating, and  looking  rather  embarrassed. 

They  sat  down  to  dinner ;  and  Rollo  pres- 
ently asked  his  father  if  he  thought  it  would 
not  be  a  good  plan  for  him  to  carry  home 
the  acorns  and  plant  them. 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  his  father,  "  if  you 
had  a  bag." 

"  I  am  going  to  plant  two  now,"  said  he ; 
"one  for  Thanny  and  one  for  me." 

"  Plant  them  now  ?  "  said  his  father. 

"  Yes,  father,  I  am  going  to  plant  them 
now,  in  my  pocket.     Jonas  told  me  how." 

"  And  how  is  it  ?  "  asked  his  father. 

"Why,  I  am  going  to  wrap  them  up  in  a 
wet  rag,  and  then  put  a  paper  around  them, 
and  carry  them  in  my  pocket,  and  they  will 
sprout  there,  my  pocket  is  so  warm  ;  and  so 

*r#  14* 


162  TESTIMONY. 

they  will  be  all  ready  to  plant  in  a  flower- 
pot when  I  get  home ;  and  they  will  grow 
right  up." 

Rollo's  father  smiled  at  Jonas's  idea  of 
turning  a  boy's  pocket  into  a  nursery  for 
oaks  ;  and  he  told  Rollo  that  he  might,  if  he 
pleased,  plant  two  in  his  pocket,  but  that  he 
had  better  throw  the  others  away. 

Rollo  was  unwilling  to  lose  any  of  his 
acorns.  He  thought  that  he  and  Nathan 
would  want  them  all.  He  tried  to  think  of 
some  way  to  get  a  bag.  At  length,  after  a 
few  minutes  pause,  he  said, 

"  Well,  father,  I  had  better  not  throw 
them  away  now,  for  perhaps  I  can  get  a  bag 
before  we  go.  The  next  stage  does  not 
come  till  day  after  to-morrow." 

"  But  I  have  concluded  not  to  wait  for  the 
stage.  I  have  engaged  a  horse  and  wagon 
to  carry  us  all  the  way." 

"  Why,  father  !  "  said  Rollo,  surprised. 
"  And  when  are  you  going  ?  " 

"  Immediately  after  dinner,"  replied  his 
father. 

Rollo  did  not  know  whether  to  be  glad  or 
sorry.     He  liked  the   idea  of  a  good,  long 


TESTIMONY.  163 

wagon  ride  with  his  father;  but  then  he 
had  been  intending  to  go  down  after  dinner, 
and  get  some  more  acorns.  To  be  sure,  he 
thought  it  was  not  probable  that  he  could 
carry  them  home  ;  but  then  he  thought  that, 
at  any  rate,  he  should  like  to  get  some  more. 


164 


THE    WAGON    RIDE. 


It  was  fifty  or  sixty  miles  to  the  place 
where  they  were  going,  and  Rollo's  father 
did  not  very  well  like  to  set  out  upon  so 
long  a  journey,  in  an  open  wagon.  But, 
then,  he  would  have  had  to  wait  two  days 
for  the  stage  ;  and  he  found,  too,  on  making 
a  calculation,  that  he  and  Rollo  could  go 
cheaper  in  the  wagon  than  in  the  stage,  if 
they  took  into  the  account  the  expenses 
they  would  incur  at  the  public  house  while 
waiting  for  the  stage  ;  and  he  was  going  to 
keep  the  wagon  until  his  return,  so  that 
they  could  come  back  in  it.  Mr.  Holiday 
explained  all  this  to  Rollo,  while  they  were 
eating  their  dinner. 

"  And  what  shall  we  do  if  it  rains  ?  "  said 
Rollo.     "  That  would  stop  us." 

"  O,  we  must  hoist  an  umbrella,  and 
travel  on." 

The  wagon  came,  however,  after  dinner, 
and  Rollo  and  his  father  got  in.     Rollo  was 


THE    WAGON    RI    t.  165 

much  pleased,  both  with  horse  and  vehicle. 
He  liked  the  wagon  because  it  was  so  open, 
and  he  could  see  all  that  passed  around  him, 
as  he  rode  along,  much  better  than  in  a 
stage-coach,  or  even  in  a  chaise.  He  won- 
dered why  every  body  did  not  ride  in 
wagons. 

He  contrived  to  save  his  acorns,  too,  not- 
withstanding what  his  father  had  said  about 
the  difficulty  of  getting  a  bag.  For  while 
they  were  getting  ready  to  put  their  baggage 
in  the  wagon,  and  Rollo  was  just  going  to 
throw  his  acorns  away,  he  recollected  that  a 
stocking  would  make  a  very  tolerable  bag  ; 
and  so,  after  asking  his  father's  leave,  he 
took  one  of  his  stockings  out  of  his  trunk, 
put  his  acorns  into  it,  and  tied  it  up  at  the 
top.  It  made  a  very  good  bag,  and  carried 
his  acorns  safely,  in  the  bottom  of  his  fa- 
ther's carpet  bag,  all  the  rest  of  the  journey. 

Rollo  and  his  father  went  on  very  suc- 
cessfully by  their  new  conveyance.  Rollo 
enjoyed  the  ride  very  much,  all  the  after- 
noon. At  dark,  they  stopped  at  a  small 
tavern  in  a  solitary  place,  by  the  road-side. 
There  were  mountains  all  about  the  house, 
and   a  large   stream,  tumbling  over  rocks. 


166  THE    WAGON    RIDE. 

flowed  across  the  road  very  near  it.  Rollo 
wanted  to  go  out  and  play  by  the  side  of 
this  stream,  but  his  father  told  him  that  it 
was  too  late  and  cold,  and  so  they  both  went 
in.  A  servant  girl  made  them  a  fire,  and 
prepared  them  some  supper  ;  and  after  that, 
the  two  travellers  took  out  their  writing 
apparatus,  and  wrote  letters  home  all  the 
evening. 

The  next  morning  they  breakfasted  very 
early,  for  Rollo's  father  said  that  the  days 
were  short,  and  they  must  be  upon  the  road 
betimes. 

"  How  far  have  we  got  to  go  to-day?" 
asked  Rollo. 

"  About  forty  miles,"  said  his  father. 

"  O,  well,  we  shall  get  there,  then,  before 
dark." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "if  we  meet  with 
no  accident." 

They  travelled  on,  during  that  day,  with- 
out any  special  adventures,  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon,  when  there  ap- 
peared a  heavy  cloud  in  the  west,  which 
threatened  rain.  It  had  not  been  very  cold 
during  the  day,  for  the  wind  had  been 
south,  which  is  a  warm  quarter.      As  the 


THE    WAGON    RIDE.  167 

cloud  approached,  Rollo  proposed  that  they 
should  take  out  their  coats,  and  get  their 
umbrella  ready.  Heavy  gusts  of  wind,  how- 
ever, came  sighing  among  the  trees,  and 
Rollo's  father  looked  around  the  sky  with  a 
somewhat  anxious  expression  of  countenance. 
He  stopped  the  wagon,  took  out  the  great 
coats  from  the  carpet  bag,  and  they  put  them 
on.  Rollo  got  the  umbrella  ready,  and  held 
it  before  him,  the  handle  in  his  lap,  and  the 
tip  down  in  the  wagon,  in  front,  ready  to 
spread  it  as  soon  as  it  should  begin  to  rain. 

It  began  to  sprinkle  very  soon,  and  Rollo, 
as  soon  as  the  first  drop  fell  upon  his  cheek, 
raised  and  opened  the  umbrella.  But  the 
wind  blew  the  rain  in  under  it.  He  tried 
to  hold  it  down,  but  he  could  not  succeed  in 
holding  it  low  enough  to  keep  out  the  rain, 
without  bringing  it  so  low  that  his  father 
could  not  see  to  drive.  The  rain  came 
faster  and  faster,  and  before  long,  Rollo's 
father  said  he  began  to  think  that  they 
should  get  really  wet. 

The  clouds,  however,  seemed  to  be  un- 
even. They  came  up  from  the  south  in 
large,  dark  masses,  with  bright  places  be- 
tween.    The  rain,  which  was  now  descend- 


168  THE    WAGON    RIDE. 

ing  upon  the  travellers,  came  from  one  mass, 
which  formed  a  dense  canopy  over  their 
heads ;  but  it  was  slowly  passing  over,  and 
the  travellers  thought  that  soon  the  rain 
would  diminish,  if  it  did  not  entirely  cease. 
They  passed  a  small  farm-house.  Rollo 
wanted  to  stop,  but  his  father  thought  they 
had  better  go  on. 

The  rain  soon  "  held  up,"  as  Rollo  called 
it,  and  Rollo  took  down  his  umbrella.  He 
thought  it  was  entirely  over  ;  but  his  father 
told  him  that  they  must  expect  it  to  rain,  at 
intervals,  all  the  afternoon.  They  were 
about  entering  upon  a  wild,  unfrequented 
part  of  the  road,  where  they  would  pass 
very  few  houses  ;  and  Rollo  said  that  if  it 
should  rain  very  fast  indeed,  he  did  not 
know  what  they  should  do. 

They  passed  on  for  several  miles  more, 
without  much  difficulty  ;  but  then  it  began 
to  rain  with  great  power.  The  water  came 
down  in  torrents.  There  was  not  so  much 
wind  as  there  had  been,  but  the  rain  dashed 
through  the  silk  of  the  umbrella,  and  cov- 
ered them  with  a  fine  spray;  and  it  fell 
without  any  obstacle  upon  their  knees,  and 
dripped  down   upon  their   elbows  j    and  it 


THE    WAGON    RIDE.  169 

threatened  entirely  to  overwhelm  the  bag- 
gage. 

Rollo's  father  drove  on  rapidly,  in  hopes 
to  find  some  place  of  shelter.  For  half  a 
mLe  he  watched  the  turnings  and  windings 
of  the  road,  as  they  came  into  view  before 
him,  in  vain. 

At  length,  however,  an  old,  deserted  black- 
smith's shop  came  in  sight.  By  the  side  of 
it  was  a  shed,  where  horses  had  been  ac- 
customed to  stand,  waiting  for  their  turn  to 
be  shod.  Mr.  Holiday  wheeled  the  horse  up 
swiftly  into  this  shed,  and  the  travellers 
found  themselves  very  suddenly  under  ef- 
fectual protection. 

Rollo  listened  a  minute  or  two  to  the 
sound  of  the  rain  drops,  pattering  upon  the 
roof  over  his  head ;  and  then  he  followed  his 
father,  who  had  jumped  out  of  the  wagon. 
He  looked  around  in  the  shed ;  and  then 
presently  he  spied  an  opening  through  the 
side  of  the  blacksmith's  shop,  where  a  board 
had  been  broken  off.  He  crept  in,  and 
began  to  look  around  to  see  what  sort  of  a 
place  it  was,  and  what  he  could  find. 

The  bellows  were  gone,  and  the  anvil 
was  gone,  though  the  great  block  which  the 
h  15 


170  THE    WAGON    RIDE. 

anvil  had  been  placed  upon,  still  remained. 
Rollo  jumped  up  upon  this  block,  and  looked 
around.  In  a  corner  lay  several  pieces  of 
old  iron.  He  got  down,  and  went  to  exam- 
ine them.  There  were  hoops  and  horse- 
shoes, and  there  was  one  piece  of  a  gun-bar- 
rel, round  and  hollow,  which  Rollo  wished 
was  his.  He  thought  that  Jonas  could  make 
a  little  cannon  of  it  ;  that  is,  if  he  could 
contrive  any  way  to  make  a  hole  in  the 
side,  for  a  touchhole. 

Rollo  knew,  howrever,  that  he  ought  not 
to  take  the  iron  ;  and  so  he  put  it  down,  and 
went  to  look  out  at  the  window.  He  found 
that  the  rain  had  nearly  ceased,  and  so  he 
crept  back  through  the  breach  by  which  he 
had  entered.  He  found  his  father  just  pre- 
paring to  set  out ;  but  before  they  fully  con- 
cluded that  it  was  best  to  go,  the  rain  came 
pouring  down  again,  and  they  found  them- 
selves obliged  still  further  to  postpone  their 
departure. 

Three  quarters  of  an  hour  passed  away 
before  they  could  leave  the  shed.  Rollo 
became  almost  out  of  patience. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "  don't  you  wish  that 
we  had  waited  and  taken  the  stage  ?  " 


THE    WAGON    RIDE.  171 

"If  I  should  wish  so,"  answered  his  fa- 
ther, "it  would  be  wrong." 

"  Why  wrong  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"Because,"  replied  his  father,  "I  con- 
sidered the  case  carefully ;  and,  according  to 
the  best  of  my  judgment "  at  the  time,  I 
concluded  that  it  was  wisest  to  travel  in 
this  way.  Of  course,  it  was  my  duty  to 
come  in  this  way." 

"Not  certainly ',  father,"  said  Rollo  j  "for 
perhaps  you  might  be  mistaken." 

"It  is  always  our  duty,"  replied  his  father, 
"  to  do  what  seems  to  us,  at  the  time  we 
have  to  decide,  the  wisest  and  best,  even  if 
it  afterwards  proves  that  we  were  mistaken. 
When  I  decided  to  take  the  wagon,  it  ap- 
peared to  be  the  best  thing  that  I  could  do  ; 
of  course,  it  was  then  my  duty  to  do  it,  and 
consequently  I  cannot  be  sorry  for  it  now, 
without  being  sorry  for  doing  my  duty." 

By  this  time  the  rain  had  again  so  far 
diminished  that  they  got  into  the  wagon 
and  rode  on.  It  was,  however,  nearly  dark, 
and  they  were  travelling  over  a  part  of  the 
road  which  was  quite  sandy,  and  the  heavy 
showers  had  washed  and  "gullied"  it,  so 
that  it  was  dangerous  to  ride  very  fast.     At 


172  THE    WAGON    RIDE. 

length,  as  they  were  coming  down  a  hill, 
one  of  the  front  corners  of  the  wagon  pitched 
suddenly  forward,  and  at  the  same  instant  a 
sound  as  of  something  breaking  was  heard, 
and  the  shafts  fell  down  upon  the  ground, 
and  the  horse  moved  forward,  leaving  the 
wagon  stationary,  and  almost  pulling  the 
reins  out  of  Mr.  Holiday's  hands. 

"  Whoa  !  whoa  !  "  exclaimed  Rollo.  "  O, 
father,  we've  broke  down !  we've  broke 
down !  " 

His  father  stopped  the  horse,  and  then 
quietly  got  out  of  the  wagon. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  "  said  Rollo,  "  what's 
broke  ? " 

"  The  whippletree,"  said  his  father,  as  he 
took  up  the  two  ends  of  the  whippletree, 
which  were  dangling  at  the  horse's  heels. 

Rollo  looked  over  the  front  of  the  wagon, 
to  see  what  the  whippletree  was.  He  had 
often  noticed  a  bar  of  wood  passing  across 
the  wagon,  behind  the  horse,  with  hooks  in 
the  end  of  it,  which  the  ends  of  the  traces 
were  fastened  into,  for  the  horse  to  draw  the 
wagon  by.  It  was  not  fixed  and  stationary, 
but  it  turned  upon  a  bolt  in  the  centre ;  and 
Rollo  had  often  watched  the  ends  moving  to 


THE    WAGON    RIDE.  173 

and  fro  as  the  horse  trotted  along,  —  won- 
dering why  it  was  made  in  that  way.  He 
found  that  this  whippletree  was  broken  in 
two,  in  the  middle,  where  the  bolt  went 
through,  so  as  to  let  the  horse  go  forward 
free,  almost,  from  the  wagon. 
J5* 


174 


THE    TRAVELLERS   BENIGHTED. 


"  What  shall  we  do  now  ?"  said  Rollo. 

"  We  are  in  a  predicament,  certainly."  said 
his  father,  looking  thoughtfully  aX  the  ends 
of  the  Whipple  tree. 

"  Can  you  mend  it,  father?  "  said  Rollo, 
anxiously. 

"  We  are  really  in  trouble,"  continued  his 
father,  speaking  apparently  to  himself,  as  if 
he  did  not  hear  what  Rollo  was  saying. 

"And  no  house  in  sight,"  he  added,  look- 
ing around  him. 

Rollo  looked  too.  On  each  side  of  the  road, 
as  far  as  they  could  see,  there  was  nothing  to 
be  seen  but  forests  and  mountains. 

"  Can't  you  mend  it,  father,"  said  Rollo, 
"  so  that  it  will  do  to  go  to  the  next  house  ?  " 

"No,"  said  his  father,  slowly  and  thought- 
fully, as  he  examined  the  fragments  once 
more,  "  I  don't  see  what  I  can  do." 

"Can't  you  tie  it  ? "  said  Rollo. 

"  I  have  not  any  cord,"  replied  his  father 


THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED.     175 

"  I've  got  a  string,"  said  Rollo,  eagerly  and 
joyfully.  And  as  he  said  it,  he  drew  forth 
from  his  pocket  a  pretty  long  piece  of  fine 
twine,  which  he  had  safely  deposited  there. 
He  was  accustomed  to  carry  a  piece  of  twine 
in  his  pocket,  so  as  to  have  it  ready  when  he 
wanted  a  string  for  any  purpose.  His  twine 
was  often  very  convenient  in  such  exigencies 
as  occurred  to  him  and  Nathan  in  their  plays, 
but  it  was  hardly  sufficient  for  the  wants  of 
benighted  travellers,  broken  down  upon  the 
road. 

"  That  is  not  strong  enough,"  said  his  fa- 
ther, smiling  faintly,  "  though  I  am  very 
much  obliged  to  you  for  it." 

"  I  think  you  had  better  try  it,"  said  Rollo  ; 
"  perhaps  it  will  hold." 

"  No,"  replied  his  father,  "  it  would  only  be 
wasting  our  time." 

As  he  said  this,  he  put  the  broken  whipple- 
tree  into  the  wagon,  having  unhooked  it  from 
the  traces  ;  and  then  he  passed  the  ends  of 
the  traces  over  the  horse's  back,  to  keep  them 
from  dragging  about  his  heels. 

"  And  now,  Rollo,  are  you  man  enough  to 
mount  guard  here,  while  I  go  and  get  some 
help?  " 


176    THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED. 

"  Mount  guard  !  "  repeated  Rollo,  not  ex- 
actly understanding  what  his  father  meant. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father  ;  "  that  is,  stay  here 
and  take  care  of  the  wagon  and  the  baggage." 

"  Why  —  father  — "  said  Rollo,  hesitating, 
"why  could  not  I  go  with  you  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  can  go  a  great  deal  faster,  if  I  go 
alone  ;  and,  besides,  I  don't  quite  like  to  leave 
the  baggage  here,  without  any  body  to  watch 
it ;  there  are  some  valuable  papers  in  my 
trunk." 

Rollo  looked  around,  somewhat  afraid.  It 
was  pretty  dark,  already,  and  would  probably 
become  much  darker  before  his  father  should 
return.  It  was  a  wild  and  solitary  place,  and 
the  wind  howled  mournfully  among  the  for- 
ests and  mountains.  Rollo  thought  it  would 
be  very  lonely  there,  after  his  father  had  gone 
away. 

"  How  long  do  you  think  you  shall  be 
gone  ?  "  said  he. 

"  O,  it  depends  upon  how  far  I  have  to  go, 
before  I  find  a  house,"  said  his  father.  "  ] 
certainly  should  not  be  gone  more  than  half 
an  hour." 

"  I  should  get  pretty  wet,"  said  Rollo,  in 
a  doubtful  tone. 


THE  TRAVELLERS  EENIGHTED.     177 

"  O,  I  should  leave  you  the  umbrella,"  said 
his  father. 

While  he  was  thus  talking  with  Rollo,  he 
had  been  busy  all  the  time  taking  the  har- 
ness off  the  horse,  and  putting  it  into  the 
wagon.  He  then  opened  a  little  box  under 
the  seat,  and  took  out  a  blanket :  he  folded 
it,  and  put  it  across  the  horse's  back  for  a 
saddle  ;  and  then  he  seemed  to  have  comple- 
ted his  preparations,  and  to  be  ready  to  go. 

"  But  then,  Rollo,"  he  said,  as  he  put  the 
short  reins  over  the  horse's  head,  as  if  he  was 
going  to  mount,  "  I  don't  want  you  to  stay, 
unless  you  feel  perfectly  willing.  If  you  have 
courage  and  nerve  enough,  it  would  probably 
do  you  good  to  stay.  It  will  help  make  a  man 
of  you.  But  if  you  are  afraid  to  stay,  it  would 
do  you  a  great  injury  for  me  to  leave  you. 

"  How  ?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  I  cannot  talk  about  it  now,"  replied  his 
father,  "  for  I  must  go.  You  may  have  your 
choice  ;  go  with  me,  or  stay  and  take  care  of 
the  wagon.  Bat  hold  the  horse  for  me  a 
minute  ;  I  believe  I  will  move  the  wagon  out 
of  the  road  a  little,  and  put  the  baggage  un- 
der it ;  that  will  help  keep  it  dry." 

Rollo   took   hold   of    the   reins   near   the 


178    THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED. 

horse's  mouth,  with  one  hand,  holding  the 
umbrella  with  the  other,  while  his  father 
pushed  the  wagon  back  upon  the  grass,  in  a 
little  vacant  space  among  the  bushes,  and 
then  put  the  baggage  under  it.  It  did  not 
rain  much,  however,  and  he  told  Rollo  that 
if  he  concluded  to  stay,  he  might  sit  upon 
the  wagon  seat,  and  hold  the  umbrella  ovei 
his  head. 

"  Well,  father,"  said  Rollo,  " I  believe  I 
will  stay." 

"  Very  well,"  said  his  father.  "  Then  I'L 
mount  and  away,  so  as  to  be  back  as  soon  as 
I  can." 

He  led  his  horse  up  by  the  side  of  a  little 
bank,  for  there  were  of  course  no  stirrups  to 
his  blanket-saddle,  and  he  could  not  mount 
without  having  something  for  a  horse-block. 
While  he  was  doing  this,  Rollo  climbed  up 
into  the  wagon,  and  drew  the  buffalo  over 
his  knees;  and  then  he  began  rocking  the 
wagon  to  and  fro,  chirping  at  the  same  time, 
and  saying  "  Get  up,"  as  if  he  was  driving  ; 
just  as  he  and  Nathan  used  to  do,  when  they 
were  playing  take  a  ride  in  the  wagon  in  the 
yard.  His  father  was  glad  to  see  that  he  had 
such  good  courage. 


THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED.     179 

His  father,  then,  bade  him  good  by,  and 
told  him  that  he  should  bring  a  lantern  back 
with  him  ;  "  and  so,"  said  he,  "  when  you  see 
a  light  on  the  road  before  you,  you  may 
know  that  I  am  coming."  He  then  turned 
his  horse  into  the  road,  and  trotted  off. 

Rollo  listened  to  the  sound  of  the  horse's 
feet  as  long  as  he  could  hear  them,  and  then, 
tired  of  "  playing  ride  "  in  that  lonely  place, 
and  without  Nathan,  he  began  to  sing.  He 
had  not  quite  finished  his  song,  before  he 
heard  a  noise.  He  stopped  to  listen.  It 
sounded  like  a  wagon  coming. 

"Ah,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  there  comes 
father,  I  know." 

On  listening  more  attentively,  however,  he 
perceived  that  the  wagon  was  coming  the 
wrong  way.  He  thought  it  must  be  some 
other  travellers. 

"  I'll  call  to  them,  when  they  come  up, 
and  get.  them  to  help  us. 

"  No,  I  will  not,  either,"  continued  he,  "for 
perhaps  they  are  robbers  ;  and  then  they  will 
steal  my  father's  trunk." 

Rollo  was  not  very  wise  in  this  supposi- 
tion, for  the  chance  that  any  robbers  would 
be  coming  along  on  that  road  was  exceeding- 


180  THE    TRAVELLERS    BENIGHTED. 

ly  slender.  However,  as  he  did  not  know 
any  better,  he  did  very  right  in  concluding 
not  to  speak  to  them. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  strange  wagon  came 
on  rapidly.  Rollo  heard  the  sound  of  voices. 
He  thought  it  was  the  robbers  talking  to- 
gether. They  drove  up  fast,  until  they  came 
opposite  to  where  his  wagon  was  standing, 
when  he  heard  one  of  them  say, 

"  What  is  that  ?  There  is  a  wagon  by  the 
side  of  the  road."  And  at  the  same  moment 
he  reined  in  his  horse,  and  the  men  stopped. 
Before  they  could  stop,  however,  they  had 
got  considerably  by  Rollo,  their  horse  was 
going  so  fast ;  and  as  it  was  pretty  dark,  and 
the  bushes  were  somewhat  in  the  way,  they 
could  not  see  distinctly. 

"  It  is  a  wagon,  I  believe,"  repeated  one 
of  the  men.     "  Let's  go  and  see." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  other,  "  somebody  has 
broken  down,  I  suppose  ;  but  we  may  as  well 
go  on  —  there  is  nothing  to  be  done." 

"  I  thought  I  saw  somebody  in  it,"  said 
the  first  man. 

"  O,  no,"  said  the  other  ;  "  drive  on." 

But  the  first  man  was  not  convinced.  He 
turned  around  in  his  seat,  and  looked  very 


THE  TRAVELLERS  BENIGHTED.     181 

intently  at  Rollo's  wagon.  He  could  just 
distinguish  Rollo's  form,  and  he  thought  that 
he  saw  him  move. 

"  Who's  there  ?  "  said  he. 

« I,"  replied  Rollo. 

" 1  ?     Who's  I  ?  "  said  the  man. 

"  Rollo,?'  answered  the  little  guard. 

"  It  is  a  child,"  said  the  other  man  in  a 
tone  of  astonishment.  They  both  immedi- 
ately jumped  out  of  their  own  wagon,  and 
came  to  the  one  where  Rollo  was  sitting.  He 
had,  however,  before  this  lost  all  his  fears,  for 
the  men  had  spoken  in  so  gentle  and  friend- 
ly a  tone  of  voice,  that  he  knew  they  would 
not  do  him  any  harm. 

The  men  came  up  to  the  wagon  where 
Rollo  was  sitting,  and  asked  him  how  he 
came  to  be  waiting  there.  He  told  them  all 
about  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  they 
examined  the  broken  whippletree. 

"  Well,  you  are  a  brave  little  fellow, "  said 
one  of  the  men,  and  we  will  give  you  a  lift. 
We  can  fasten  your  wagon  behind  ours,  and 
take  you  right  along  to  your  father." 

"No,  sir,  I  thank  you,"  said  Rollo ;  "  I  think 
I  had  better  stay  here  'till  my  father  comes 
back." 

16 


182  THE    TRAVELLERS    BENIGHTED. 

He  did  not  like  very  well  to  go  away  with 
the  men,  though  he  scarcely  knew  why. 
They,  however,  insisted  upon  taking  him 
along.  They  told  him  that  perhaps  his  fa- 
ther would  not  find  any  house  ;  and,  at  any 
rate,  that  they  should  certainly  meet  him 
coming  back  ;  and  so  Rollo  reluctantly  con- 
sented. 

The  men  put  the  baggage  into  the  wagon, 
drew  it  out  into  the  road,  fastened  the  shafts 
to  the  back  of  their  own  wagon,  and  then 
drove  along.  Rollo  rode  upon  the  seat  where 
he  had  been  sitting,  and  took  care  of  the 
baggage 


3S3 


THE    END    Of   THE   JOURNEY. 

As  Rollo  rode  slowly  along  over  the  mud- 
dy road  in  the  rear  wagon,  he  was  at  first  a 
little  uneasy  at  the  strangeness  of  his  situa- 
tion ;  but  soon,  feeling  more  at  his  ease,  he 
said  to  himself,  "  This  is  a  queer  way  of  rid- 
ing. I  have  often  seen  horses  harnessed  one 
before  the  other,  but  I  never  heard  of  putting 
wagons  tandem,  before."  Presently  one  of 
the  men  said, 

"  Here  comes  a  light." 

Rollo  looked,  and  saw  a  light  on  ahead, 
glancing  along  like  a  Jack  o'  Lantern. 

"  It's  my  father,  I  know,"  said  Rollo,  clap- 
ping his  hands. 

As  the  light  came  near,  Rollo  heard  the 
sound  of  horse's  feet,  and  presently  Rollo's 
father  rode  up  to  the  wagons.  He  began  to 
feel  somewhat  uneasy  about  Rollo,  having 
left  him  so  long  in  a  place  of  such  utter  soli- 
tude. He  had  been  obliged  to  go  much  far- 
ther than  he  had  expected,  before  he  found  a 


184  THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY. 

house ;  and  now  he  was  quite  relieved,  at 
finding  Rollo  safe. 

"  Father,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Why,  Rollo  !  "  said  his  father ;  "  are  you 
safe  ?  " 

"  Yes.  sir,"  said  Rollo.  "We  were  going 
along  to  find  you." 

The  men  then  explained  to  Mr.  Holiday, 
that  they  had  found  his  son  waiting  patient- 
ly for  him,  and  that  they  had  persuaded  him 
to  come  along  with  them.  The  men,  also, 
offered  to  draw  the  wagon  along,  as  they  had 
begun,  until  they  should  come  to  the  next 
house. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Rollo's  father ;  "  I  should 
like  that  very  well,  for  I  was  not  very  suc- 
cessful in  getting  the  means  to  repair  the 
damage." 

So  the  men  drove  on ;  and  after  both 
wagons  had  passed,  Mr.  Holiday  fell  in  be- 
hind, and  followed.  He  rode  pretty  near 
Rollo,  and  so  Rollo  turned  around  and  asked 
him  whether  he  had  to  go  far  before  he  found 
a  house. 

"  Pretty  far,"  said  his  father.  "  You  got 
tired  of  waiting,  I  suppose." 

"No,  sir,  not  very,"  said  Rollo. 


THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY.  185 

"You  had  pretty  good  courage^  and  you 
have  really  been  useful  to  me." 

"Havel?"  saidRollo. 

"  Yes.  I  don't  know  what  I  should  have 
done  without  you.  I  should  have  been  very 
unwilling  to  have  left  my  baggage,  without 
some  one  to  take  care  of  it." 

"  What  did  you  get  to  mend  the  wagon 
with?"  asked  Rollo. 

"  Only  a  piece  of  rope,"  replied  his  father. 
"  I  meant  to  have  brought  a  man  along  with 
me  ;  but  the  man  who  belonged  at  the  house 
where  I  stopped  had  gone  away,  and  all  that 
I  could  get  was  a  piece  of  rope." 

While  they  had  been  talking  thus,  the 
horse  had  been  walking  along  slowly,  because 
the  ground  was  slightly  ascending,  and  the 
road  was  muddy.  They  now,  however, 
reached  the  top  of  the  ascent,  and  the  horse 
then  began  to  trot  down  a  long  hill  beyond. 
Of  course,  Rollo  and  his  father  could  not  talk 
any  more,  for  it  was  not  safe  to  ride  very  near 
the  wheels  of  the  wagon,  when  it  was  going 
very  fast.  And,  besides  this,  the  wheels  of 
both  wagons,  and  the  horse's  feet,  made  a 
good  deal  more  noise,  as  they  trotted  down 
the  hill. 

h*  16*       * 


186  THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY. 

Rollo,  therefore,  could  not  talk  any  more  , 
and  so  he  sat  still,  watching  the  glancing  of 
the  light  from  his  father's  lantern  upon  the 
trees  and  rocks  on  each  side  of  the  way. 
At  length  another  light  came  into  view,  at 
some  distance  before  them. 

Rollo  watched  the  new  light.  As  nothing 
else,  however,  but  the  light  could  be  seen  at 
that  distance,  he  could  not  tell  whether  it  was 
in  the  road  or  out  of  it.  He  supposed,  how- 
ever, that  it  must  be  somebody  else  coming 
with  a  lantern.  He  could  not  think  who  it 
could  be. 

It  came  nearer  and  nearer  as  they  advanced, 
and  when  his  curiosity  about  it  was  at  its 
height,  his  father  rode  up  behind,  and  called 
out  to  the  men  who  were  driving  in  the  for- 
ward wagon, 

"  Stop,  if  you  please,  at  this  house." 

"  O,  it  is  a  house,  then,"  said  Rollo  to  him- 
self.    "  O,  yes,  I  see  now." 

Just  then  the  wagons  stopped,  turning  a 
little  out  to  one  side  of  the  road  ;  and,  at  the 
same  moment,  the  angle  of  the  roof  of  a 
small  house  came  into  view  against  the  sky. 
It  was  surrounded  by  trees.  The  door 
opened,  and  Rollo  could  see  a  woman  stand- 


THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY.  187 

ing  there,  holding  a  light,  and  shading  it  with 
ner  hand  to  prevent,  the  wind  blowing  it  out. 

It  of  course  did  not  shine  much  out  of 
doors,  but  it  cast  a  strong  light  upon  the  wo- 
man's face,  and  produced  a  singular  effect. 
A  little  child  came  up  behind  her,  and  tried 
to  crowd  his  head  in  between  the  woman  and 
the  door,  so  as  to  see  out  j  but  she  told  him 
to  go  back,  and  he  immediately  disappeared. 

In  the  mean  time  Rollo's  father  unfastened 
his  wagon  from  that  of  the  other  men,  and 
then  he  paid  them  something  for  the  trouble 
they  had  taken  to  help  him  along.  The  men 
at  first  declined  receiving  any  thing,  but  Mr. 
Holiday  insisted  upon  it.  When  this  was 
settled,  the  men  bade  him  good-by,  and 
rode  on. 

When  they  were  gone,  Rollo's  father  went 
up  to  the  door,  and  told  the  woman  that  they 
had  all  that  they  needed,  and  that  she  had 
better  shut  the  door  and  go  in  ;  and  that  they 
would  come  as  soon  as  they  had  put  up  the 
horse. 

"  Why,  father  !  "  said  Rollo,  "  are  we 
going  to  stay  here  all  night  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father.  "  They  invited 
us  to  stay  very  kindly,  and  so  I  accepted  the 


188  THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY. 

invitation.  It  is  a  good  many  miles  to  the 
next  tavern," 

"  And  how  do  you  know  where  the  barn 
is,"  said  Rollo,  "to  put  your  horse  in?  " 

"  O,  they  told  me  where,"  replied  his  fa- 
ther. And  so  saying,  he  led  the  horse  along 
to  a  small  building  near  the  house,  and  Rollo 
held  the  lantern  at  the  door,  while  his  father 
led  the  horse  in,  fastened  him,  and  gave  him 
some  hay. 

They  then  went  into  the  house.  There 
were  two  women  and  one  child,  there.  The 
man  who  lived  there  had  gone  to  carry  some 
wheat  to  market,  and  would  not  be  back  un- 
til the  next  day.  This  happened  rather  for- 
tunately for  Rollo  and  his  father,  for  there 
were  but  two  rooms  in  the  house  ;  and  as  the 
man  was  gone,  the  women  and  the  child 
could  sleep  in  one,  and  Rollo  and  his  father 
in  the  other. 

The  women  got  the  travellers  an  excel- 
lent supper,  and  then  they  went  to  bed.  The 
apartment  was  not  a  very  elegant  one  ;  but 
the  bed  was  neat  and  comfortable,  and  they 
both  slept  soundly  until  the  morning. 

It  cleared  up  in  the  night,  and  the  next 
morning  they  could  go  on  their  way.    They 


THE    END    OF    THE    JOURNEY.  189 

tied  up  the  whippletree,  so  that  they  could 
get  along  three  miles  to  a  blacksmith's  shop, 
where  they  had  it  thoroughly  mended;  and 
then  they  went  on,  without  any  further  ad- 
ventures, to  the  end  of  their  journey. 


> 


